Aspect had a highly successful stand and ran two well attended seminars at the CWDC national event for EYPs in Birmingham on July 14th. We agreed to make available a letter you can use to send to your local MP – and local councillors. Here it is. Share it with colleagues and even better get a group letter sent to your local MP and go and see him or her at their “surgery”. If you are successful let us know!

DRAFT LETTER
Address
Address
Address

Date

MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Dear [MP]

Early Years Workforce – Pay & Career Structures

I am writing to ask you to raise with the Department of Children, Schools and Families the urgent need to introduce appropriate and effective career structures to support the workforce, including the new graduate leaders, Early Years Professionals (EYPs), in the early years sector.

As you will no doubt be aware, Early Years work – despite its importance – is particularly poorly paid, with many (including graduates and professionals with many years of experience) only being paid just above the minimum wage. This is an increasingly highly-skilled workforce, supporting parents and families to participate in employment, as well as providing care and education to our youngest and most vulnerable children. Research has definitively demonstrated that higher skills and training among staff lead to better outcomes for children. As a result there is – rightly in my view – an accelerating drive towards an increasingly skilled workforce.

However, without appropriate structures being put in place to ensure clear career progression and appropriate pay and conditions, the recruitment of excellent staff into the sector will become increasingly problematic. Unless increasing skills levels are matched by appropriate salary levels and access to ongoing professional development, retention will also continue to be problematic, and potentially become worse as the ability to move elsewhere increases with higher skill levels.

You may also be aware that another concerning issue in Early Years provision remains the lack of men in the workforce – currently, despite initiatives to tackle the issue over the years, female staff still account for 98% of early years workers. This has also been demonstrated to be linked to the poor wages and lack of career structures.

Finally, I would like to bring to your attention one of the most acute examples of this area of concern. Early Years Professionals are graduate leaders currently being brought into early years to lead practice and ensure excellence across Early Years settings throughout England. Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) is equivalent to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), with key responsibilities in leading the Early Years Foundation Status (EYFS) and in supporting their colleagues in leading and ensuring best practice. The importance of this drive to raise standards is shown by the target that every full daycare setting in disadvantaged areas must have two EYPs by 2015, with all such settings employing at least one.

Despite these responsibilities and the importance of the EYP role in ensuring all children have access to the best possible Early Years experiences, a recent survey carried out by Aspect, the professional association for children’s services professionals, revealed that the most common wage earned by EYPs is only £8-£9 per hour.

Retention of the EYP workforce is already proving to be problematic. Unlike the teaching workforce – an equivalent group of professionals – there are no career structures, no agreed pay arrangements, and no entitlements to ongoing professional development. If the drive to bring new graduate expertise and leadership into early years is not to wither, like so many previous attempts to tackle issues connected with this sector, it is essential these issues are addressed with urgency.

I am writing therefore to request that you raise these concerns on my behalf, and on behalf of all the children and families in our constituency, with Ed Balls and his colleagues in the Department of Children Schools and Families (DCSF) and through all other appropriate channels. I would also like to invite you to visit our [your group] EYP network/training provider, or to arrange a separate meeting to discuss these issues further.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Name