Nursery World - Labour wants graduate-led nurseries and more training for childminders

Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has pledged to deliver a graduate-led early years workforce with a plan for more highly-trained staff to fight inequality and bring the sector onto an equal footing with schools.

Bridget Phillipson has pledged action to boost the early years workforce under a Labour government

In an exclusive interview with The Guardian Phillipson said, ‘We know that so much is determined for children early on and that you can make the biggest impact in the early years, yet the system we’ve got right now deprioritises so much of what goes on in our early years settings.

‘We need to raise the standing of the sector, make it part of the education system so that it is regarded with the same parity as our schools. What you achieve in the early years makes such a big difference.’

Phillipson said she was ‘determined to deliver graduate-led nurseries’ and more training for childminders with a workforce plan to get more highly trained staff teaching the youngest children.

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