Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to continue to improve quality of early education for two-, three- and four-year olds, including increasing graduate leadership.

The Government wants all children to have access to quality early education, as this makes a difference to their outcomes in later life. That is why we have taken the following steps to support the quality of early years provision:

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) helps early years providers to prepare young children for school and improve their life chances by requiring them to deliver high-quality provision. The 2015-16 EYFS Profile results show that the proportion of children achieving a good level of development continues to increase – 69% in 2016 compared to 52% in 2013.

We work closely with Ofsted to ensure a robust regulatory and inspection framework to drive continuous improvement in quality. The sector has responded positively and the latest statistics show that 86% of early years providers were rated “good” or “outstanding” as of 31 March 2016.

The quality of the workforce continues to improve, with 87% of staff in full day care settings now qualified to level 3. The Department is also developing a workforce strategy that will aim to remove barriers to attracting, retaining and developing staff.

The Government recognises that graduates play an important role in improving quality in the early years, 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. As such, 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%.