The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Stephen Morgan)
Having high-quality early education and care available on parents’ doorsteps is key to giving children the best start in life. In our plan for change, we have set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn. We will measure our progress through 75% of five-year-olds reaching a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage assessment.
A key priority to achieve this milestone is rolling out Government-funded childcare support to improve access. Eligible working parents are already benefiting from the latest phase of the expansion of childcare in September 2024, being able to access 15 hours a week of early education and childcare from the term after their child turns nine months. And from September 2025, this will increase to 30 hours per week as we deliver the final phase of the expansion.
In our plan for change, we committed to work in partnership with the sector, reforming training and support for the workforce to drive up standards. To make it easier to recruit and train the right staff, the Government are working to expand the workforce to deliver the high-quality early years provision needed. We are introducing new routes to becoming approved as early years educators and early years teachers. We are also making it easier for educators and employers to check their qualifications and know that they are working within the early years foundation stage requirements.
Early years teacher degree apprenticeship
The Government have worked with sector experts to create a new undergraduate route to achieving early years teacher status, through the publication of a new early years teacher degree apprenticeship. The apprenticeship complements the existing early years initial teacher training route and is designed for those wishing to specialise in teaching young children and babies. It enables people starting out in their careers, as well as experienced early years educators, to gain a degree and become an early years teacher without needing to incur any debt while gaining invaluable experience at work. This three-year course will be available throughout England and will help ensure we have a highly qualified workforce to support the next generation of young children and help settings recruit the staff they need.
Experience-based route
Following last year’s technical consultation, the Government intend to proceed with the introduction of an experience-based route for early years staff. This new route will support the recruitment and retention of staff by allowing suitable educators who do not hold an approved qualification to be included in the staff-child ratios at level 3 following the successful completion of a period of supervised practice. Early years providers and educators will be able to begin using the experience-based route from 3 March 2025, and we will work closely with the sector in the coming months to ensure that employers and educators understand how to deliver the route and realise the benefits.
The qualification, experience and process requirements for the route will safeguard quality by ensuring only staff with the right experience and qualifications can access the route, that the duration of the process allows for sufficient development of skills and knowledge, and that providers maintain an appropriate number of fully qualified staff. These requirements were supported in the consultation response, and in response to sector feedback we have increased the required experience of assessors and supervisors in this route from six months to a minimum of two years.
Check an Early Years Qualification service
Early years qualification requirements can be difficult to understand, particularly when determining whether a qualification is approved for working in staff-child ratios. We have developed the “Check an Early Years Qualification” digital service to help managers check the approval status of qualifications held by existing and prospective staff. We expect this to save managers’ time and increase their confidence in having sufficient, appropriately qualified staff to meet the demand resulting from the expansion of funded childcare entitlements by September 2025.
The service has been tested with individuals and organisations working in the early years during its pilot and iterated in line with feedback. It will be made publicly available on www.gov.uk later this spring.
Together, these new measures are just the latest steps this Government are taking to grow and develop a valued early years workforce, who provide the high-quality provision that supports children and families right from their earliest years.
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