A Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to the Children's Workforce Development Council and seen by Nursery World shows that there was little wider consultation beyond the expert group that developed the diploma, which only included two early years and childcare employers - the Pre-School Learning Alliance and Busy Bees.
Concern about the extent to which the early years and childcare sector was consulted during the development of the diploma was raised at the National Day Nurseries Association conference last year.
Children's minister Sarah Teather was presented with a briefing paper signed by a number of nursery groups which together employ 16,000 nursery staff. This said that the diploma was 'inadequate for many reasons' and called for a specialist early years qualification to be developed and given official status and funding.
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