It is yet another standard avoiding response from the office of Ms Truss. - Ms Truss is either unable or unwilling to respond to me directly, so each response is just a standard letter repeating the information from previously communicated responses.
She never responds to my key questions relating to actually paying EYPs/EYTs a salary commensurate with their standard of skill and level of responsibility and prefers to blame Sector managers for not paying a decent wage. My question remains - "Where is the money going to come from when EY funds have been decimated!
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Dear Mrs Dervey , |
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Thank you for your email
dated 16th August 2013 to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Elizabeth
Truss regarding the status and pay of Early Years Teachers. As an
official responsible for this area of policy I have been asked to reply. |
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The Government recognises that teaching young children is just as important as teaching school-age children and the positive impact that Early Years Professionals have had on the quality of early education and care for pre-school children. This is why we are introducing Early Years Teachers from September 2013. We want to further promote the status and public recognition of the early years workforce. In terms of remuneration, the pay and conditions for staff working in early education and childcare settings outside maintained schools are best determined by employers at a local level. The majority of early years’ settings are private, voluntary or independently (PVI) owned and run. We would expect employers to want to pay Early Years Professionals and Early Years Teachers in accordance with their status. The same principle would also apply to an employee holding QTS working in a PVI setting. We want to give more autonomy to headteachers so they can decide who is best qualified and suited to teach in their schools. Free schools and academies can employ teaching staff without the requirement for them to have QTS and headteachers can set their own pay scales. In maintained schools, QTS is currently a requirement to be employed as a teacher and paid under the pay range for qualified teachers as set out in the School Teachers Pay and Conditions document. Headteachers have the discretion to employ staff without QTS to teach in schools, if they are satisfied the individual has relevant qualifications and experience. Those without QTS are normally paid according to the pay range for unqualified teachers. Further changes being introduced from September 2013, however, mean that headteachers will have even more flexibility and freedom on pay and will be able to place staff on the most appropriate point on the relevant pay scales. All routes to the award of QTS require that trainees demonstrate the Teachers’ Standards across two or more consecutive age ranges. Ages 3-5 (Foundation stage) and ages 5-7 (School years 1-2) are the youngest age ranges included in the award of QTS. For the award of QTS, you would be required to demonstrate the Teachers’ Standards across both of these age ranges, hence the requirement for school experience when you enquired about accessing the Assessment Only route. You rightly recognise that your skills and training have been explicitly honed to focus on the very different needs and education of the under 5s as directed by the EYFS. Early Years Teachers are thus able to fulfil the needs of young children, parents and employers for high quality provision for children from birth to five. Thank you for writing to the Department for Education on this important matter.
Your correspondence has been allocated reference number
2013/0052021. If you need to respond to us, please visit: www.education.gov.uk/contactus,
and quote your reference number.
Yours sincerely,
Gillian Gaskell
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