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Early Years Issues Essay

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When working in the early years sector, it is clear to see that there are a wide variety of issues that practitioners will encounter. These challenges that practitioners face in the early years are ongoing and continuous, and will affect the children and their parents, therefore, practitioners need to ensure their provision and support is of the highest quality. (Beckley, 2013). This essay will show two different current early years issues. The two issues will be discussed in detail in terms of, how we could overcome it, and the impacts it can have on children, parents and practitioners in an early years setting. The first issue which will be discussed is ‘Men working in childcare’. This seems to be an issue as working with children is seen …show more content…

Men in the early years has been an issue which has been growing over many years for various reasons. For example some men are dissuaded from the career choice, and as it is a predominantly female occupation, some men feel they do not wish to work in that environment. As much as we have attempted to overcome this issue, the percentage of men working in childcare decreased rapidly over the years. Also, the cost of childcare for parents has increased over the years, with the average parent now paying £115.45 in Britain for their child to attend a nursery part-time. If the adult is 25 or over, working 40 hours per week at a rate of £7.20 an hour, this would be just under half their weekly earnings. This is seen as an issue for all involved. If parents are unable to afford the cost, children are unable to attend a good, high quality nursery, which will have great impacts on their learning and development. Also, practitioners are also on a low rate of pay for the amount of skill and responsibility this job requires. Through all the issues the early years face, the children should always be put first, as they are always at the heart of education. (Gillard,

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