Last week, EPI published a new analysis of the early years workforce data. Our aim was to bring together many of the disparate datasets and see if we could improve our current understanding.
One of the main, and most worrying, findings from our report is that while around 75 per cent of the workforce had at least a Level 3 qualification in 2016, this figure fell dramatically from 2015 when it stood at 83 per cent. One explanation could be related to cost – a PACEY survey found that the cost of Level 3 courses had increased from £250 in 2012 to £1,900 in 2015.
And it doesn’t look like this downward trend in the proportion of highly qualified staff is going to get any better. Currently, almost half of staff with at least a Level 6 qualification is aged over 40, with 21 per cent aged over 50 and approaching retirement in the next 10-15 years. So the sector’s most qualified staff tend to be older and the data does not suggest we have younger cohorts of staff coming through with similar qualifications. This means that the early years workforce in the future could be even less qualified than today.
We can already see an impact on the proportion of two-year-olds being taught by graduate teachers. This figure fell slightly from 45 to 44 per cent between 2014 and 2016, but varied significantly across the country. In London, the proportion fell by 6 percentage points and Yorkshire and Humber saw a fall of 4 percentage points over the same (relatively short) period.
Disparities in pay could be an important factor in the overall quality of the workforce. On average, pre-primary teachers earn just 83 per cent of the average tertiary-education worker. And pay also varies within the sector – the average pay for more junior staff in school-based provision is higher than for more senior staff in group-based early years provision. So there is a clear incentive for qualified staff to work in school-based, rather than PVI, settings.
Overall, our analysis found that Government interventions haven’t gone far enough to improve the quality, pay and parity of the early years workforce. Indeed, the trends we’ve identified could undermine the Government’s own commitment to expand childcare entitlements.
