New report calls for a higher qualified workforce of early childhood professionals

A report has been published by The British Association for Early Childhood Education calling for stronger action across all four UK nations to strengthen qualification requirements for the early years workforce and to establish clear career progression routes with appropriate pay and status, in order to address the current recruitment and retention crisis and drive up quality in the sector.

The report, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, highlights the urgent need to improve the status and recognition of early childhood education staff and calls for minimum entrance requirements to work in early childhood education, and as a minimum, that staff who are unqualified when starting work in the sector should be on a pathway to achieve a qualification within a set period.  It also states that there should be minimum entry requirements for maths, English (and Welsh in Wales) to ensure practitioners have the necessary literacy and maths skills to match the demands of the job.

In addition, the recommendations highlight the need for the current “fragmented and confusing array of qualifications” in all four nations to be addressed to create clearer, high-quality pathways through a career in early childhood education, with well-defined progression routes, aligned to related sectors, including teaching in primary.

Early Education’s Chief Executive, Beatrice Merrick, said “We know that policymakers in all four nations are looking at how best to address current recruitment and retention challenges and to raise the quality of early childhood education provision to maximise the effectiveness of investing in this phase.  This is complex and demanding work which requires an accumulation of knowledge and experience to be done well, and pay and conditions must reflect that in order to attract and keep best people, and to give every child the start in life they need and deserve.”

Read the full report here