Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that more nurseries employ qualified early years teachers.

Caroline Dinenage

The Government recognises that graduates are an important part of the early years workforce, and that is why in 2013 we introduced the early years initial teacher training programme which leads to the award of Early Years Teacher Status. We have made a significant investment in this programme by providing funding for course fees and bursaries to eligible trainees, and also funding for employers to support trainees.

The number of graduates in the workforce continues to rise, and between 2008 and 2013 the proportion of full day care staff with a degree or higher increased from 5% to 13%. The Government wants to see more trained graduates in the workforce in the future.

The early years workforce strategy is in development this year and will set out how government will help to remove barriers to attracting, retaining and developing staff. It will look at the barriers to growing the body of graduates in the workforce in England.