Opinion - A workforce in pieces

With the new EYFS legislation, staffing is a minefield for children'sservices. There is a danger that the associated debates and actionsmight fragment the early years workforce rather than cohere it.

It's not a new debate. I qualified more than 30 years ago and went to anursery school in the inner city. The head said, 'You'll be working withMrs D, an experienced NNEB who has run that class alone for years. Shedoesn't want to work with a teacher.' Mrs D and I are still in touch,but as I walked nervously into that classroom I felt I had much to proveand still a lot to learn - some of which I learned from Mrs D.

There was no requirement to do so, but the local authority had decidedto place teachers with nursery nurses in nursery classes and schools,and had agreed to fund both to reflect the high status of the work andthe importance of strong teams working with children and families. Itwas a principled, ideologically informed decision, based on children'srights to a high quality educational experience in the early years.

With the expansion of provision across the PVI sectors and the emergenceof children's centres, central government has acknowledged that qualityis related to high level training and qualifications. The Early YearsProfessional emerged, as, potentially, a natural progression within thequalifications framework or as a cheaper version of the 'teacher' - takeyour pick. Both teachers and EYPs constitute level 6 graduates but theirterms and conditions are very different.

Is the EYP destined for the PVI sector, while the reinstated teachers,as now required under the EYFS guidance, will return to the maintainedsector? Does anyone know how teachers and EYPs are working in children'scentres? No-one should be placed in the position of feeling intimidatedor second class within the workforce. That is not in the best interestsof children, families or the workforce. But we should be alert to thecontinuing potential for workforce fragmentation and tension. How sureare we of improvements in the last 30 years?

Pat Broadhead is Professor of Playful Learning at Leeds MetropolitanUniversity and chair of TACTYC (www.tactyc.org.uk)

Once budgets were devolved to governing bodies in the early nineties,local authorities lost the financial capacity for taking such anideological stance - although many never got around to taking it in thefirst place. Devolution brought welcome autonomy for schools, butwithout related legislation, heads discovered they could remove theteacher from their nursery classes and locate additional staff in, forexample, KS2 to raise SAT scores.