Leadership trumps qualifications in ensuring quality childcare, says expert

James Hempsall, national director for Achieving Two Year Olds, said it is important that practitioners hold good qualifications but believes that effective leadership and management of settings catering for disadvantaged two-year-olds is the defining factor.

His comments follow the recent publication of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) Condition of Britain report, which called for all staff working with disadvantaged two-year-olds to hold a Level 3 child development qualification and for 30 per cent to hold a degree in early education.

The report states that 78 per cent of early years practitioners are qualified to at least level 3, with 15 per cent holding a specialist childcare degree.

The report recommends that the government invest £150m in improving the qualifications of the early years workforce – a move the IPPR said would improve the quality of care provided and give disadvantaged children the best possible start in life.

However, Hempsall, who works with the Department for Education to support the government’s free childcare scheme for disadvantaged two-year-olds, said his own experience suggests quality is not always linked with qualifications.

He said: “The most important factor that determines quality is not the overall qualifications held by a team, but the effectiveness and quality of its leadership.

“I do think a Level 3 is vital for anyone considering their career in early years. However, the learning that apprentices and other staff can gain from working with the least advantaged children and their families – under great leadership – should not exclude them from this significant work.

“The drive for graduate-led delivery is a real opportunity to make connections between settings, including schools, and if and when equality in qualified teacher status is achieved between the schools and early years sectors we will stand a greater chance of achieving these ambitions.”

Liz Bayram, chief executive of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years  (Pacey), supports the proposal for all staff to hold at least a Level 3 child development qualification.

She said: “While we also support an increase in the number of graduates working in early years settings, it is important to recognise that many frontline childcare practitioners without early years degree qualifications also provide professional, high quality care for children.”

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, welcomed the call for the government to invest in increasing the number of qualifications within the sector.

He said: “The sector fully supports ambitions to build a highly qualified workforce – assuming there is also recognition that experience and a nurturing approach are equally valuable – but to achieve this, the government must have a clear plan of action on how practitioners will be supported in gaining these qualifications and how sector pay levels are to be improved in order to attract and retain these qualified staff.”