Nursery World - Quality childcare will 'depend on staffing'

Raising the quality of provision - the key theme of National Childcare Week this week - will not be realised without investing in a well-trained and committed workforce and halting the current turnover of staff, according to new research. Child Benefits: the importance of investing in quality childcare, published by the Daycare Trust and supported by the nursery chain Bright Horizons Family Solutions, says that 'staff turnover, retention and training issues pose great problems to developing a stable workforce that can really deliver on quality'.

Child Benefits: the importance of investing in quality childcare, published by the Daycare Trust and supported by the nursery chain Bright Horizons Family Solutions, says that 'staff turnover, retention and training issues pose great problems to developing a stable workforce that can really deliver on quality'.

The report adds, 'The desire to increase quality of care will not be met, even at the level of the minimum standards currently being applied, without addressing issues of the childcare and pre-school workforce.'

To back this up, the report refers to the US National Childcare Staffing Study, which showed that staff tended to provide better care when they had more formal education, more early childhood training at college, and higher wages.

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