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Caroline Dinenage, early years minister, has today announced that the DfE has launched a consultation on the literacy and numeracy skills needed by early years staff.

 

The consultation is design to support the development of early years staff, as well as gather views on how to ensure that a skilled workforce is in place to deliver the 30-hours offer.

 

“Making sure our children learn, develop and flourish at this critical time in their lives is vital – we want to recruit and retain the very best staff for this, that’s why we are looking at the skills needed,” Caroline said. 

 

“The findings will help inform my upcoming workforce strategy which, along with our record investment in the sector, will support nurseries, pre-schools and other early years providers to offer high quality, free childcare for thousands more families across the country.”

 

Neil Leitch, chief executive at the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said that it is positive to see that the government has listened to the sector’s concerns and is officially reconsidering its stance on Level 3 requirements in the early years.

 

“To say that it is causing a recruitment crisis is not an exaggeration, and, clearly, blocking talented, experienced and passionate practitioners from entering the sector at a time when we are looking to expand the free entitlement offer is both illogical and impractical,” Neil said.

 

“Of course it’s important that those working in the early years are literate and numerate, but we do not believe that GCSEs are the only way to measure this. We urge as many practitioners as possible to respond to the consultation, and hope that the government will listen to the views of the sector on this issue and look to reverse this policy as quickly as possible.”