The petitions committee of MSPs, whose members gave a warm reception to the demands from Unison representatives Carol Ball and Elizabeth Hunter, is writing to the Executive to seek its views on the issues raised in the union's 20,000-signature petition and the type of inquiry it is proposing.
The parliamentary committee is also writing to the charity Children in Scotland.
Carol Ball, who chairs Unison's nursery nurse working party, said she was heartened by the MSPs' response to her demand that early years education and childcare should be recognised as 'a separate profession within education provision as a whole'.
She said no timetable had been laid down for a response from the Executive, but she hoped to hear its reaction to the petition 'in the next month or so'.
Ms Ball told the petitions committee that lifelong learning was a continuum and that early years education should not be seen as simply a preparation for school. 'It is not a case of a light bulb going on at age five, when learning begins; a child learns from the minute it is born,' she said.
Scottish National Party MSP Dr Winnie Ewing, backing the Unison call for a regrading of nursery nurses' pay, said that all children in their early years should have a right of access to care by properly qualified nursery nurses and that such workers would not be recognised as a separate profession until this was made statutory.
Carol Ball told the committee that qualified nursery nurses could earn Pounds 13,300 after ten years. She added, 'We need clear job roles linked to appropriate qualifications and identified career progression, which is largely non-existent throughout the profession.'
However, her call for a specific qualification that 'goes all the way from foundation level to managing the sector' was disputed by Tory MSP Phil Gallie, who told her that many people who had run successful private nurseries for years 'do not have the qualifications you mention'.
Dorothy-Grace Elder, the Independent MSP for Glasgow, said the correspondence with the Executive should also highlight the lack of any qualification requirement for nannies.
