Nursery World - NUT wants safeguards on early years education

Concern over the quality of early years education in children's centres was raised at the National Union of Teachers' annual conference in Gateshead last week. Delegates passed a resolution brought by the union's national executive calling on the Government to safeguard the quality of early years education, to ensure that where provision is designated as education it is provided by qualified teachers who are early years specialists.

Delegates passed a resolution brought by the union's national executive calling on the Government to safeguard the quality of early years education, to ensure that where provision is designated as education it is provided by qualified teachers who are early years specialists.

The union opposes the Government's proposal to replace the 12 and a half hours a week free nursery education for three- and four-year-olds with 'educare', which it says will cancel out the long-term benefits of early years education.

An amendment to the motion was also made to include a statement that 'conference believes that the term "educare" is a ruse' by the Government to embed its remodelling agenda for schools.

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