New standards 'put care quality at risk'

Government proposals for national standards in daycare that lower the qualifications required for staff could reduce the quality of care and create 'warehouses for the next generation', the chairman of a leading nursery organisation has warned. National Day Nurseries Association chairman Michael Thomp-son told a conference in London on day nurseries last week that he believed the Government wanted to expand childcare at the expense of standards. He said, 'It's like suggesting we'll get anyone with A-levels to teach.' This strategy might backfire, he warned, by failing to produce a movement of new recruits into the sector and prompting an...