Nursery World - The time is right for a Royal College for Early Childhood

Eunice Lumsden, head of Early Years at University of Northampton, argues that professionalising the workforce means adopting standards akin to those in professions such as social work

It is nearly twenty years since the birth of a more integrated approach to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in England.

The rapid pace of change since this time has seen ECEC become wed to politics. With this has come substantial and continued investment of public money in developing the quality of early years provision, the early years workforce and the health visiting profession.

Alongside this there have been a number of projects aimed at reducing disadvantage. Furthermore, early childhood has become an academic field in its own right and there is substantial and evolving research about the impact of the earliest years across the life course.

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