Nursery World - Graduates 'make a long lasting difference to outcomes'

Settings which employ a graduate are linked with improved outcomes for children which last up to the end of primary school, new analysis suggests.

These improvements apply to all children – disadvantaged or not - who spend at least 15 hours per week in a setting.

The two-year study, based on census data of 6 million children in PVI settings over the past 10 years, finds that having a staff member with QTS, EYTS or EYPS corresponds to an improved early years foundation stage profile score of 0.3, and this is sustained to some extent until at least the age of 11.

Report co-author Sara Bonetti said, ‘Considering that this is based on census data from 6m children, this clearly shows that graduates make a difference. You can’t expect them to work miracles – we are looking at one staff member per early years setting - but there is definitely a positive association with children’s outcomes, and this is over the long term.’

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