Nursery World - Value for money

I read with interest the letter from Melissa Gibson, 'When a degree fails to find the job to match' (7 December). At no point in my previous letter (2 November) did I state that I felt hard work and dedication were enough. Training is very important to our profession. What I said was that asking a playgroup manager or supervisor to be qualified to degree level was unrealistic and unnecessary. Melissa appears to have failed to take in my point which she herself has found out - namely, playgroups do not generate enough money to be able to pay staff to be qualified to this level and, as she has found out, if you pay for it yourself you cannot get a job in early years to repay that investment.

At no point in my previous letter (2 November) did I state that I felt hard work and dedication were enough. Training is very important to our profession. What I said was that asking a playgroup manager or supervisor to be qualified to degree level was unrealistic and unnecessary. Melissa appears to have failed to take in my point which she herself has found out - namely, playgroups do not generate enough money to be able to pay staff to be qualified to this level and, as she has found out, if you pay for it yourself you cannot get a job in early years to repay that investment.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included