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Early Childcare Essay

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Page, Clare and Nutbrown (2013) suggest that skills, knowledge, understanding, and capabilities are central to the quality of provision in early childcare settings. Research has established the connection between staff qualifications and the quality of the early years provision, alongside the differences in quality between maintained and private, voluntary and independent (PVI) settings (Robert-Holmes, 2012). It is understood that maintained nursery education was originally staffed by early years teachers, supported by nursery nurses with a level two qualification, and have since been replaced by graduates with qualified teacher status (QTS). Meanwhile, in the PVI sector, nursery nurses holding a level two qualification were considered …show more content…

It intended to employ an EYP within every children’s centre by 2010, full day care settings by 2015 and have all settings move towards an NVQ level three as the minimum required qualification (Jones, 2014). However, it is apparent that this incentive failed as institutions offering EYPS courses are getting rid of them in favour of the QTS. In addition, the new and revised EYFS published in the 2017 states in each room there need only be one member of staff with a level three qualification whilst half of all other staff hold a level two (DfE, 2017). The statutory framework’s requirements for the qualifications of staff are identical to that of 2008 (DfE, 2008), allowing half of remaining staff to be unqualified and level three to be an acceptable level for leadership; suggesting no progress has been made in the PVI sector for nine years.
Eisenstadt, Sylva, Mathers and Taggart (2013) suggest that EYPS is not comparable to the QTS and therefore practitioners with the status will not be eligible for teacher pay and conditions (p. 2). As a practitioner this is demoralising and demotivating as it is suggested that qualified teachers directing early years practice, with excellent pedagogical leadership, will not only improve quality but raise the status of the sector and increase professionalism (Nutbrown, 2012), but there is no incentives or rewards
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11 for professional development. Within personal practice there also

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