Press Story

The Government needs to more than double the number of graduates leading nurseries and childminders, according to a new report published today by the think tank IPPR.

England has one early years graduate to 96 children in day care. Only 15% of England's early years workforce have a degree level qualification, compared to 60% in Denmark and 80% in New Zealand. IPPR report concludes that more than 12,000 new graduates are needed to work in early years in England.

The report argues that the Graduate Leaders Fund, scrapped in 2011, should be reinstated because it was highly effective in boosting the number of graduates in nurseries and child-minders.

The report also shows that more graduates would be highly cost effective. New IPPR modelling shows that by introducing two graduates into a centre, ratios could be relaxed and more children could be taken on, generating revenues of up to £88,880 a year. This money could then be invested in further training and development or used to bring down costs for parents.

Imogen Parker, Researcher, at IPPR said:

"Graduates, with degree-level qualifications, significantly improve the quality of care and outcomes for children and so it is essential that we ensure they are well deployed in childcare settings. The UK is currently a long way off the standards held by other countries.

"It is vital that we not only encourage more graduate into early years care, but that we also ensure that they spend their time interacting directly with the youngest children who they can help to develop the most. This means putting play-based learning at the centre of teaching and qualifications."

Notes to editors

IPPR's new report - Early developments: bridging the gap between evidence and policy in early years development - will be available here: http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/11073/early-developments-bridging-the-gap-between-evidence-and-policy

This research has been funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

As of September, the Government is replacing Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) with Early Years Teachers (EYT). By 'early years graduates' we are here referring to those with Qualified Teacher Status, Early Years Professional Status or the forthcoming Early Years Teachers.

IPPR have adapted the ratio model used by the Department for Education (DfE 2013a) to test some scenarios around the introduction of more graduate leaders into childcare settings. These are only illustrative examples, and don't consider the costs of additional floor space, other non-staff costs and the costs of training up staff to graduate level.

The government scenario which was used for More Great Childcare is a hypothetical nursery settings comprised of 10 staff, 3 of whom looks after over 3s, 3 of whom looks after 2 year olds, and 4 of whom look after under 2s.

If none of the senior staff are graduates the number of children who can be cared for at any one time is 48:
Over 3s: 24 (at a ratio of 8:1)
2 year olds: 12 ( at a ratio of 4:1)
Under 2s: 12 (at a ratio of 3:1)

Without relaxing ratios, but with the introduction of a graduate leader, the number of children cared for at any one time could be increased by almost a third to 63:
Over 3s: 39 (at a ratio of 13:1)
2 year olds: 12 ( at a ratio of 4:1)
Under 2s: 12 (at a ratio of 3:1)

The DfE model assumes that the settings has acquired two graduate supervisory staff, and their pay increases from the average manager to average Primary School Teacher pay, from £16,850 to £33,250.

Deducting this increase in salary, under numerous different scenarios there is a considerable increase in revenue. Below are some illustrative examples, changing cost to parents, number of children, and hours of childcare use.

IPPR's report - Early years reform: Childminders' responses to government proposals- is available from: ?http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/10977/early-years-reform-childminders-responses-to-government-proposals

IPPR's report - Double Dutch: The case against deregulation and demand-led funding in childcare - is available from: ?http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/9763/double-dutch-the-case-against-deregulation-and-demand-led-funding-in-childcare

IPPR's report - Making the case for universal childcare - is available from: http://ippr.org/publications/55/8382/making-the-case-for-universal-childcare

IPPR's report - Great expectations: Exploring the promises of gender equality - is available from: http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/10562/great-expectations-exploring-the-promises-of-gender-equality

IPPR's report - Family policy: Where next for parental leave and flexible working? - is available from:?http://www.ippr.org/publications/55/1822/family-policy-where-next-for-parental-leave-and-flexible-working

Contacts:

Richard Darlington, 07525 481 602, r.darlington@ippr.org

Tim Finch, 07595 920 899, t.finch@ippr.org