I still maintain that we need to find ways of enabling practitioners like Kay to become specialist early years teachers, rather than introducing another level of practitioner.
While the first EYPs may be very well-qualified, in the longer term people without a graduate academic background will almost certainly be allowed to qualify (the standards indicate this quite clearly). This is why I am concerned.
If we accept a lower standard for senior staff in early years settings then we will inevitably be separated off from the school sector and seen as second-class citizens.
How much better it would have been for Beverley Hughes to allocate some of the 52m to supporting well-qualified practitioners to become teachers. But, of course, Early Years Professionals will not have the same status as teachers and will not be subject to their pay scales or conditions of service. That's what makes them attractive to this Government.
Margaret Edgington, early years consultant, Leicester
