At the union's annual conference, members said they were 'deeply concerned' about the Government target that by 2010 educational provision in all children's centres should be led by Early Years Professionals, seeing it as a threat to the employment status and conditions of early years teachers.
Delegates upheld a motion that said early years education at children's centres could only be effective under a head with qualified teacher status.
NUT members also said they 'deplored' the actions of some local authorities in outsourcing children's centre provision, calling this a further threat to the role of the teacher in centres.
John Bangs, head of education at the NUT, said, 'We have real concerns over a two-tier system developing - a private and voluntary sector where there are almost no qualified teachers, and a maintained sector which has many more qualified teachers.'
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