The call was made last week by the Early Childhood Forum in its response to the consultation on the Government's Green Paper, Every Child Matters, which ended on 1 December.
The Forum also said that a priority was 'to move to a new core early childhood professional who would replace our existing split roles between childcare early years workers and early years teachers'. It said such a person should be a graduate, and a proper core graduate workforce should be developed over ten years, with a common qualification structure created for all those in key roles working with children.
But the Forum, which is co-ordinated and administered by the Early Childhood Unit at the National Children's Bureau, stressed, 'Any move to rationalise and clarify occupational roles needs to entail a thorough mapping and understanding of the complexity of the current structures within the early years field. This should ensure that the skills and knowledge of existing workers are not undervalued and that early years as a specialism is not lost.'
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