The education and childcare minister faced opposition from a majority of users who put questions to her about the proposals to relax childcare ratios, drive up quality and introduce childminding agencies.
One user, Chazzy2008, asked Ms Truss how many practitioners had been consulted on the proposals and if any of them included the 40,000 people that have signed two petitions.
In Ms Truss’ reply she said, ‘We have held a series of meetings with nursery providers, interested organisations such as the Daycare Trust, NCMA, My Family Care and nanny agencies.
However, Catherine Farrell, joint chief executive of the National Childminding Association told Nursery World that their members have overwhelming rejected proposals to establish childminder agencies, and they do not plan to actively help the Department for Education with the development of the model.
Anand Shukla, chief executive of the Family Parenting Institute and Daycare Trust has also opposed the government’s proposals.
Ratios
Despite holding firm on plans to increase the number of children per adult in early years settings, Ms Truss appeared to soften her stance in response to a question from one user who said she was considering giving up the profession.
Mellowcat, an NNEB nursery nurse with a Masters in early childhood, said, ‘Myself and similarly qualified colleagues are contemplating leaving the profession as soon as the ratio changes come into force as experience tell us that this simply will not work. It is very easy to say that nurseries have a choice, but there is often no choice for the practitioners working with them. I would rather leave than fail the children in my care.’
The education and childcare minister responded by saying that she is a ‘big fan of NNEB, and the new Early Years Educator Qualification will learn the lessons from the well-respected qualification.’
She went on to say, ‘This is about giving flexibility to nurseries and allowing professionals to exercise their judgement, provided they’re hiring sufficiently qualified staff. For example, it may be the case that a staff member is ill one day, or there’s one extra child which the nursery needs to accommodate for a short amount of time.’
Childminders
Another topic raised by Mumsnet users was the plan to introduce childminder agencies.
A question put forward by Mumsnet on behalf of the NCMA asked Ms Truss how the Government will ensure that local authorities continue to support individual childminders to improve rather than relying on childminding agencies.
In her response, Ms Truss revealed that along with interest from schools and early years providers, some local authorities are interested in converting their childminder networks into childminder agencies. She went on to say that the issue at the moment is that local authority support is very patchy.
A childminder with the nickname Electricalbanana, rated good with outstanding elements by Ofsted, who said she is half-way through her BA in childhood studies, she she was concerned about how joining an agency that is graded satisfactory or lower would reflect on her.
She also asked Ms Truss whether joining an agency would mean that childminders are no longer self-employed. ‘If so will they get the same perks as the other public servants, such as pensions, holiday and sickness pay. Will you (government) by doing all of my paperwork?’ she said.
Ms Truss confirmed that childminders will not be made to join an agency and they will continue to remain individually registered with and inspected by Ofsted. She failed to answer whether childminders would no longer be self-employed.
Ofsted
One user suggested that the Department for Education’s plans to move responsibility for early years quality improvement from local authorities to Ofsted is a ‘bit ridiculous’.
JustCallMeBaldrick said, ‘Isn’t the proposal about Ofsted being the quality assessors a bit ridiculous, as they’ll be assessing their own ideas? Surely that aspect should remain within the remit of local authorities?’
Ms Truss replied by saying, ‘At the moment, Ofsted are the only organisation with the power to actually close down an early years provider, so that’s who nurseries are ultimately accountable to. I think one of the problems with our current system is that if something does happen, providers can be uncertain about who to call.’
