The Level 3 diploma for the children and young people's workforce, developed by the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) and originally set to launch last September, will replace existing early years qualifications.
Montessori and Steiner schools provide their own qualifications, which are the equivalent of a minimum Level 4 and 5 diploma respectively. Both have been informed that these qualifications will be invalid once the new diploma comes into force.
Having met with officials from the Department for Education (DfE) and CWDC in January, the organisations are demanding that Education Secretary Gove rethinks the decision.
Barbara Isaacs, academic director at the Montessori St Nicholas charity, said: "We need to have a qualification that is fit for purpose in our schools. We understand that we need to meet the criteria of Ofsted and the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). But in CWDC's review they did not consult us at any stage. Since we had no communication to say that our qualification would be invalid we did not pick up the message straight away."
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