The committee made the request following a petition from the public sector union Unison for a full review of the sector. In response, the committee said it would look at the request again, probably in the early autumn, once the Executive's reviews of qualifications, an integrated early years strategy, early years curriculum and assessment were published.
Earlier this month Unison called a ballot on an all-out strike by its nursery nurse members, the latest move in their two-year dispute over pay and career structure. The union's argument is that nursery nurses have not been recognised for their extra responsibilities that will come with the Executive's strategy, in terms of either pay or career development.
Education committee member and Scottish Socialist Party MSP, Rosemary Byrne, said, 'We need to acknowledge that the current pay structure does not help but just creates more disunity within the service, as different authorities provide different pay settlements for nursery nurses. That does not happen in teaching, which has a national structure and a national strategy. That is what we need for nursery nurses.'
The committee's convener, Liberal Democrat MSP Robert Brown, made it clear that neither Parliament nor the Executive were able to directly intervene in the dispute, but he promised not to leave the problem behind.
In a separate comment, Bronwen Cohen, chief executive of Children in Scotland, said that the proposed integrated strategy 'highlights the significance of services for young children and recognises implications for the workforce'.
She added, 'I have yet to meet anyone who does not realise that that there is a very great need to improve the initial education, training, pay and conditions of those working in these services on a basis which recognises this.'
