Speaking at the alliance's annual conference, which marked five decades of the organisation, Belle Tutaev said the sector was still undervalued and needed more financial support.
Tutaev started the organisation, originally named the Pre-school Playgroups Association, after starting her own playgroup. She wrote to the Guardian newspaper to offer support to other parents wanting to start up pre-school groups, sparking the launch of the membership organisation.
Speaking to delegates, Tutaev said: "The whole early years scene is undervalued and unappreciated.
"I’m sad to learn that we still face being undervalued in the community because I think [early years practitioners] are the most important people in the world, partly because they give plenty of their own time for very little money."
When asked by trustee of the alliance Graham McMillan what she would want the government to do to support early years practitioners, she replied: "Get them more money."
"I know we have to have cuts, we are in a desperate situation, but I would say to government don't make any cuts that would affect the early years if you can possibly help it," Tutaev added. "I would say the same to local councils because both the old and the young are feeling the cuts now."
