Editor's view - Positive signs for EYPs
Liz Roberts
Friday, November 23, 2012
Although there has been no response yet from the Government to the Nutbrown review of early years qualifications and workforce, there have been some interesting clues emerging as to what some of the decisions might be.
This is particularly striking with Early Years Professional Status, which Cathy Nutbrown had recommended should be replaced with an early years specialist teaching qualification - one of the recommendations that most divided the sector.
Certainly, those who had worked so hard to achieve EYPS, along with training providers and unions, were aghast at the thought that it might disappear, with thousands of EYPs forced to retrain. Morale would plummet, came the warning.
However, it is looking as though EYPs will not see their worst fears realised. In her interview with Nursery World, education and childcare minister Elizabeth Truss said that EYPS was a positive move that she wanted to build on.
The Teaching Agency has been writing to people newly-registered on an EYP pathway saying that EYPs are 'key to the Government's strategy of raising the quality of provision' and thanking them for their commitment to continued CPD in the sector and leading professional practice.
And the Department for Education has taken an advertising feature in this issue of Nursery World to encourage more early years practitioners to sign up for the January 2013 EYPS intake, declaring that they should 'apply now with the assurance that the status will be recognised and built on in the future'.
While the use of the term 'built on' leaves a little ambiguity, it seems that EYPS is not about to be abandoned as part of this review of qualifications.
Cue a collective sigh of relief from the growing band of more than 10,000 EYPs!