The report, Sector Workforce Plan for the Early Years Care and Education Workforce in England, identifies improved data gathering and planning as a priority for the sector. It says that there needs to be an agreement by all Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships 'as a matter of urgency' on what workforce data is to be collected and how uniform this information can be made. Partnerships need to network to deal with their local Learning and Skills Council and consistent data will be important in these negotiations.
The report adds that an agreement needs to be reached on how Ofsted and partnership data are accessed and used, and says that the different ways in which current workforce data has been collected and presented at national level is confusing, while little is fed back to partnerships to help them with planning.
'Agreement needs to be reached at national level as to how the data generated locally should be collected and analysed and, most importantly, who is to undertake this task. Without such an accord, data gathering will continue as an ad hoc and unfocused activity,' says the report.
A selection of employers and planners have been sent the plan, and a feedback questionnaire and their responses will be used to pull together a draft strategy to pass on to whatever organisation takes over from the Early Years NTO.
