News
The poor professionals
28 Apr 2009
The introduction of "graduate leaders", as the qualified early years professionals are commonly referred to, builds on the Government's 10-year childcare strategy. By 2010, every early years children's centre will be required to have an early years professional in house. By 2015 all full daycare settings will be required to have at least one.
There is fear, however, that unless pay and conditions are put in place to put early years professionals on the same level as teachers, the new status will be in jeopardy. Aspect, the union representing professionals working in education and children's services worries that EYPs could leave the private, voluntary and independent sector altogether, which could plunge early years education into crisis.
Currently, most EYPs with graduate status earn £8–£9 an hour (just £1 more than among those working towards EYPS), Aspect's EYP Survey 2009 report says. There is funding available for training, associated costs and salary increases through the Government's £350m Graduate Leader Fund. But employers are not always willing or able to use the funding for pay rises. It is up to local authorities to decide how much money is allocated to each setting, and there are big funding variations between local authorities. Some EYPs are having to move local authorities in order to get a pay rise.
Helen Willis, Aspect regional officer, says: A lot of time and money has been invested in the training of early years professionals. Little thought has been given to the sustainability of the project. Without long-term planning, some kind of infrastructure for pay and conditions and parity with the teaching profession, the role of early years professional could just wither and die.
(The Guardian, 28 April 2009)
