Early years teaching consultation has potential to right a historic wrong
The Department for Education in England is currently consulting on potential changes to Early Years Teaching Qualifications. It is very welcome news that whichever option
Today the government is launching its Best Start in Life Strategy [expected after presentation to parliament this afternoon], “to drive up the quality, affordability and accessibility of early years education and boost children’s life chances” with funding of £1.5bn for early years services in England.
Key points of the strategy include:
Yesterday government also announced that Family Hubs would be rolled out to all local authority areas, “delivering up to 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs across every local authority in England”.
On Friday, Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson announced statutory targets for local authorities would be launched in respect of the “Good Level of Development” (GLD) target, along with a new data tool to give schools data about how they are performing compared to similar schools. every local authority will work with government to agree statutory targets to improve school readiness in their area. School readiness has also been included as a “priority metric” in the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government’s new draft Local Government Outcomes Framework. Areas will be tasked with developing Best Start local plans to achieve the Plan for Change milestone to get 75% of children achieving the GLD by 2028.
Early Education Chief Executive, Beatrice Merrick, said:
“It is hugely welcome to see the ambition of this new strategy, which recognises the vital role of both high quality early childhood education and well-integrated family support services in helping children to thrive from their earliest years. We welcome that government will aim to combine the best aspects of Sure Start with the current Family Hubs and roll these out across all local authorities. We also welcome the focus on the quality of early education and care, and the importance of a highly qualified workforce, and the ambition to grow the number of teachers working in the early years.
“We congratulate ministers for listening to the sector and bringing together an ambitious vision for the future. However, the real challenge is how to translate that into reality. This plan will only succeed if we can recruit and retain a well-qualified, properly valued and rewarded workforce. We recognise that will take time, and look forward to further work with government to achieve its aims.”
The Department for Education in England is currently consulting on potential changes to Early Years Teaching Qualifications. It is very welcome news that whichever option
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The letter below sets out our key asks for the next government.
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Today, teachers from the National Education Union are striking, including many working in nursery and reception classes. In the last week, the Department for Education
