Teach First should be extended to early years

ippr says pilots should be established of 'Teach Early Years First', a recruitment programme to boost the graduate workforce in nurseries and offer opportunities for high-flying graduates to work first in early years, as hundreds now do each year in schools.

The government is extending 15 hours per week of free nursery provision to disadvantaged two-year-olds from 2012/13. £300 million has been earmarked to extend the number of free two-year old places from 20,000 to 130,000 over the next four years. ippr wants to see Teach Early Years First piloted as part of this initiative.

ippr's report says the early years workforce has a critical impact on outcomes for children. Only 13 per cent of the current workforce are graduate qualified. The number of staff qualified to graduate level in children's centres increased from nine percent in 2007 to 14 per cent in 2009 indicating slow progress on the previous government's target to have an early years professional in every setting. This target has now been scrapped with concerns raised over how children's centres will develop their staff in the face of spending cuts.

At the same time almost one in five graduates are unemployed - double the rate before the start of the recession. According to a recent report from the Higher Education Careers Services Unit, 8.9 per cent of the graduate class of 2009 were out of work in January 2010.

Nick Pearce, ippr Director, said:

'Teach First has been an extremely successful way of getting the best and the brightest into state schools. It's highly competitive, innovative, and values partnership working. Now we need the same in nurseries because a child's development in their early years is vital to their success at school.'

Notes to editors

Download ippr's report Parents at the Centre.

Contact

Richard Darlington: 07525 481 602 / r.darlington@ippr.org