Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of conferring qualified teacher status on people who have completed the (a) the early years professional status and (b) early years teacher status, and if he will make a statement on his Department's early years workforce strategy.

We are considering the feasibility of a range of approaches to supporting graduates in the early years’ workforce including the training routes available. This work is still underway.

Delivery of the commitments in the workforce strategy to support workforce recruitment and development, published in March 2017, is underway. For example, we have consulted on criteria for new, more robust, level 2 qualifications and are working with stakeholders to finalise these. Stakeholders are also working with us to develop career pathways information to support careers advice, recruitment and staff development.

Early years providers are responsible for building and supporting their workforce, but the government is committed to continuing to work with the sector to review the challenges they face, and to collaborating to identify and implement solutions.