Nutbrown brands childcare courses poor quality

Professor Cathy Nutbrown’s interim report into early years qualifications found careers guidance for students with poor grades is steered by a "hair or care stereotype".

Despite the fact early years professionals need good levels of numeracy and literacy to effectively support children and their parents, Nutbrown warned that "there are few learning routes that demand these in order to begin or complete a course".

Her report said: "It must be a cause for concern that early years courses are often the easiest to enrol on and the courses that the students with the poorest academic records are sometimes steered towards."

Nutbrown condemned the patchy quality of teaching and support for students, which leaves potential candidates confused as to the best place to study. She warned that this also means that "employers may only trust learning centres with which they have direct experience".