Dear Mr Stuart. My response to email from Ms Truss

I sent the following email to Mr Graham Stuart MP today and have received a mail acknowledgement receipt as proof of delivery.

Dear Mr Stuart,

Many thanks for forwarding to me a copy of Ms Truss’s recent email to you. I must draw your attention to several key points.

It would appear that Ms Truss is unaware that following my recent campaign (http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/department-for-education-stop-discrimination-against-early-years-professionals) to address some of the issues relating to the poor status placed on the skills and training of EYPs, Teach First have agreed to review their eligibility criteria for Early Years QTS training. They have assured me of due consideration to those candidates with Early Childhood degrees and Early Years Professional or Early Years Teacher Status to ensure that they are not unfairly discriminated against in future. In fact Nursery World have published an article to this effect. (Link as follows: http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/article/1190525/complaints-spark-teach-first-review).

I must further contend Ms Truss’s claim that Early Years Professionals/Early Years Teachers do not need to obtain Early Years QTS to improve their status. Unless EYPs and EYTs hold QTS, they will not attract an equivalent National Teachers Pay Award and will therefore will never be paid as a Qualified Teacher.

Those settings that would prefer an EYP or EYT for their youngest children have not been provided with suitable funds to offer an equivalent and acceptable remuneration package. In fact, most schools will not employ an Early Years Professional or an Early Years Teacher, who has been specifically trained to work in the Foundation Stage. This is because primary school financial plans have become so constrained that they must employ staff who can be used flexibly throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stages 1 and 2 to sustain budgetary control. As EYPs and EYTs are not qualified to teach children above 6 years, they cannot be utilised in this way.

If qualified EYPs are not going to be paid an equivalent rate to those with QTS, then those that wish should be enabled to be fast-tracked to access free additional training to achieve Early Years QTS. At present many dedicated members of the workforce are undervalued and have received no increase in status or pay following several years of intensive study. This is a disrespectful situation which does little to motivate the workforce or to sustain provision for the country’s youngest children.

I also have personal experience of attempting to access Early Years QTS training through the Schools Direct scheme. There are extremely limited training places available for Early Years QTS through this scheme and successful candidates are generally required to have had primary school experience.

Thus it seems that unless EYPs/EYTs are able to self-fund further training through the Early Years PGCE, they encounter a total block to accessing QTS and receiving Teacher's pay. Regrettably, the fact that many EYPs have been unable to secure permanent and well-paid employment makes this self-funding option becomes even more remote.

I thank you for your kind attention to this matter, but I must regret that the information provided by MS Truss does not offer any solutions to the plight of Early Years Professionals or Early Years Teachers. I must therefore request that she further considers how to ensure that those who have worked hard to achieve higher levels of skill and excellent and specific capabilities to offer the vital provision needed for very young children should receive suitable remuneration and acknowledgement to be valued appropriately.

I look forward to further communications.