Just over a year ago, the government promised to look at how to grow the graduate early years teachers’ workforce. While it wasn’t the most flashy of commitments and it may not have hit the headlines, it should have been a vital stepping stone towards ensuring quality childcare for all children. It was a recognition that the system is letting down the 280,000 children in England who don’t have access to qualified early years teachers, who have been shown to be crucial in raising quality in the early years, particularly for the most disadvantaged children.

At the end of March, the government’s own deadline expired and it broke its promise. No visible progress has been made and we understand there are no plans to make any soon.

Time and again the government has acknowledged that the early years are the most important stage of a child’s development. Yet, when it comes to acting to improve the quality of children’s childcare, it is falling short.

Graduate early years teachers are the hallmark of quality childcare. They are trained to identify and support children who are struggling, and we know they make a difference: without the support of qualified early years teachers, children are 10 per cent less likely to reach good levels of development in their first year of primary school. The difference is even starker for disadvantaged children. They are at greater risk of falling behind at this young age and many may never catch up throughout their school life. Early years teachers are a vital part of ensuring all of our children have a fair start in life - if we could increase the number of them, it would help to close the gap between disadvantaged children and their better-off classmates.

Early years teachers ‘could earn more stacking shelves’

Meanwhile, evidence that the situation is getting worse keeps piling up: our early years workforce is becoming less qualified and the number of people enrolling on the Early Years Initial Teacher Training course has fallen for the third year running. Universities have stopped delivering the courses because the numbers aren’t sustainable. And last week, Parliament’s powerful Treasury Select Committee set out major concerns that childcare funding pressures are leaving providers cutting back on higher-qualified staff.

None of this is surprising when official figures show that the government’s investment in promoting early years teacher training is less than 1 per cent of what it spends on the promotion of teacher training for primary and secondary schools.

Despite the critical role early years teachers play in ensuring children are ready for school, Save the Children’s research exposes how undervalued they are. Nurseries tell us that staff to fill these skilled roles are “like gold dust”, yet early years teachers with postgraduate degrees say they could earn more stacking shelves. One provider I spoke to told me, “the reality is they don’t stay long… why would they?” As one early years teacher put it, “Loving childcare isn’t enough when you have to pay the mortgage.”

Nurseries and other childcare providers also face challenges. They want to employ early years teachers but the combined financial pressures of delivering 30 free hours of childcare and the increase in the minimum wage prevent them from employing or retaining graduates. Most financial support to employ a graduate has been scrapped, including the Graduate Leadership Fund designed to help address these issues. The assistance that is still available for providers who are supporting their staff to become early years teachers is poorly advertised by the government and not understood by the sector. In a recent online survey, we found that two-thirds of managers without an early years teacher said they didn’t realise they would be entitled to financial help to train one.

Graduate early years teachers are the single strongest indicator of quality care for England’s preschool children. The government knows this and yet its commitment to act is being swept under the carpet while the situation gets worse, not better. It must stick to its promise and introduce a programme that will help to recruit and retain the graduate workforce. Anything else is nothing less than letting down our next generation.

Charlotte Lynch is the Save the Children UK policy adviser

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