GCSE requirements risk early years recruitment 'crisis'

From September, all Level 3 Early Years Educators (EYEs) will be required to have at least a grade C in GCSE English and maths to count in the minimum staff-to-child ratio requirements for nurseries.

But early years organisations and charities have warned this will lead to a “significant shortfall” in the number of apprentices, and have formed a campaign group calling on the government to back down over the plans.

The Save Our Early Years campaign, which launched earlier this month and includes the National Day Nurseries Association, the Pre-school Learning Alliance and the London Early Years Foundation, specifically want functional skills to be accepted as a qualification for new recruits, as was previously the case.

Functional skills, according to the government, “enable students to demonstrate real-life literacy, numeracy and IT skills through assessments set in everyday contexts”.

In a statement on its website the campaign group said: “We agree that English and maths are important for the childcare workforce – but functional skills in English and maths also provide staff with essential soft skills and must be accepted as an alternative for Level 3 EYEs [Early Years Educators].”

June O’Sullivan, chief executive of London Early Years Foundation, said on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that there had been a significant fall in the number of new starters on their Level 3 EYE apprenticeships in the past year.

“Recruitment is a major problem – we simply can’t get staff," she said.

"We’re not against having a C in GCSE maths and English, we just don’t think it’s that relevant, so we want the reintroduction of the functional skills, where we can prepare staff better.”

Under the new requirements, Level 3 apprentices without the necessary GCSEs are expected to gain the required grades alongside their apprenticeship.