TTR0084

Written evidence submitted by the British Association for Early Childhood Education

Call for evidence: Teacher recruitment and retention

Early Education is a national charity advocating for high quality early education, especially for the most disadvantaged families, and supporting early years practitioners in developing their practice.  We have members from across the early years sector, mainly in the maintained sector but also private, voluntary and independent providers and childminders, local authority early years teams, universities and college departments supporting teacher and practitioner training and research.  We have particular expertise in early years pedagogy and children’s learning and development. 

The current situation regarding teacher recruitment and retention

The Nutbrown Review (DfE, 2012) recommended: “A new early years specialist route to QTS, specialising in the years from birth to seven, should be introduced, starting from September 2013.”  This recommendation was ignored, and instead an Early Years Teacher (EYT) status was created which did not have QTS and therefore excluded those obtaining it from working as qualified teachers in schools with the same pay and conditions as those on QTS.  As the entry requirements and study requirements are essentially the same, recruitment to the EYT qualification has plummeted.  The predecessor to the EYT route, Early Years Professional Status had averaged 2000 trainees per year by September 2012, and the first year of the EYT route in 2013-14 recruited 2,327 candidates.  Numbers have since declined dramatically, and remain low:

 

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

Early Years ITT intake

357

581

458

534

 

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many trainees opt instead for a QTS route with an early years specialism, but there is no monitoring of the number doing so as they are only recorded as “Primary” in the ITT recruitment figures.

Despite government commitment to increasing the number of graduates working in the early years, there is no sign of progress.

While all reception classes must be teacher-led, schools are only required to have teachers in their nursery classes if these are part of the school.  Government has allowed schools to convert their nurseries to “governor-run provision” – essentially a private/voluntary sector nursery run by the school.  In this circumstance teachers are not a statutory requirement. The decision to do this is driven by costs, as there is plenty of evidence that quality is better in teacher-led settings.  A further worrying sign of the extreme underfunding of early years in schools is that in some maintained nursery schools, funding pressures are so extreme that the only remaining qualified teacher in the school is the head teacher.

The loss of teachers in the early years is impacting on quality through the loss of staff with extensive experience and understanding of early years pedagogy.  Children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with SEND are most likely to be impacted.

What action should the Department take to address the challenges in teacher recruitment and retention?

The government needs to look again at giving Early Years Teachers QTS status and fully implementing the recommendations of the Nutbrown Review, including better monitoring of the demographics of the early years workforce and greater attempts to ensure that it is more representative, eg in respect of gender and ethnicity.

April 2023