Early years organisations have criticised the Government for refusing to accept the functional skills route as a valid pathway to the Early Years Educator qualification. The National College for Teaching and Leadership has confirmed that all people wanting to take the Early Years Educator qualification have to have GCSEs in English and mathematics at grade C or above and it has said functional skills will not be accepted as equivalent to GCSEs. Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association said she was disappointed and added: “It is important high quality childcare has a high quality workforce and young people who aspire to that must have a viable route into the workforce. We agree with the aspiration of every EYE holding GCSE maths and English but would strongly recommend this is phased in and the importance of functional skills is recognised, with only 60 per cent of young people leaving school with GCSE maths and English.” Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, called the Government’s refusal to recognise functional skills qualifications as valid equivalents to GCSEs “extremely short sighted” and said: “Such a move is likely to deter many prospective applicants who have the skills, passion and knowledge needed to be excellent early years practitioners from pursuing careers in the sector, simply because they do not meet a set of very narrow criteria.”
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 08:24:36 +0000