Chief Exec London EY Foundation "give the early years sector more recognition and praise"

 

The following is taken from an article by Sue Lerner, on daynurseries.co.uk,  dated 9th Sep 2013.

Profile: Chief of London Early Years Foundation is tired of the Government 'slagging off nurseries and saying we are not as good as the French'

June O’Sullivan, chief executive of the London Early Years Foundation, which runs 24 nurseries in London, is urging the Government to give the early years sector more recognition and praise.

The Government is also introducing a new Early Years Teacher role. They will be ‘specialists in early childhood development, trained to work with babies and young children from birth to five’ and will meet ‘the same entry requirements and pass the same skills test as trainee primary school teachers’. However despite needing to meet the same entry requirements, Early Years Teachers will not have the all-important Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).
This new role has left Ms O’Sullivan baffled. She says: “I have invested a lot in my staff so they could become Early Years Professionals and it seems as if the Early Years Teachers are more or less the same as Early Years Professionals just with a different name as they will not have Qualified Teacher Status so they will not be on a par with primary and secondary teachers. I think it is demotivating as they will be able to call themselves teachers but they won’t be on the same salary or status. This is exactly what Cathy Nutbrown wanted to avoid.” In terms of raising the status of the childcare profession, she believes it won’t be achieved merely by raising the salaries of people working in the profession although this will of course help.

Link for entire article: http://www.daynurseries.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1560977/profile-chief-executive-of-london-early-years-foundation-is-tired-of-the-government-slagging-off-nurseries-and-saying-we-are-not-as-good-as-the-french