Can EYTs fix the attainment gap?

NO: Neil Leitch, chief executive, Pre-school Learning Alliance

"It sometimes feels as though every few months there is a new report explaining why early years teachers are the solution to a whole range of problems.

We've been told that having graduates in early years settings will not only close the gap between both disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers, but also boys and girls - and then, of course, there's persistent claims that because many settings do not have graduate leaders, they are, by default, of lower quality.

We at the alliance have always supported the call for more early years graduates in principle. That said, we firmly believe that high-quality provision is about more than just academics - it's about a workforce that is experienced, passionate and understands that the early years is about care as well as education. While research has shown that a well-qualified early years workforce does have a positive impact on early outcomes, I can't help feeling that such calls risk applying overly-simplistic solutions to what are often very complex problems.