CYP Now - Childcare sector supports calls to raise workforce standards

Improvements in pay, status and support for early years staff must all be forthcoming if a higher minimum entry standard to the profession is to be considered, say providers who are also calling for more investment.

Academics from the Sutton Trust and Oxford University recently called into question the quality of the early years workforce by suggesting that the sectors' sub-standard skills were undermining the government's free childcare policy.

The Sound Foundations report, published in January, urges the government to ensure all workers caring for disadvantaged two-year-olds are qualified to at least NVQ Level 3 before expanding its free childcare offer.

In addition, the report authors want all childcare professionals to have support from a graduate practitioner to ensure the provision of high-quality childcare.

The report cites figures from the 2011 Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey – the most recent data of its kind - which shows that 88 per cent of nursery school staff, 84 per cent of full-day care staff and 59 per cent of childminders were qualified to at least a Level 3.

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