Editor's view

Margaret Hodge has returned to the early years sector to find that the issue of low pay for childcare staff is still very much live and kicking. She was tackled about the problems during her speech to the CACHE annual general meeting last week, when practitioners reacted to assertions from Ken Boston of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority that lack of career structure was the main reason for staff leaving the sector in their thirties (see News, page 4). The fact is that pay levels so low that it is impossible to support a family or buy a house drive...