Qualified staff in Children's Centres.

Fancy a bit of oral evidence taken before the Education Committee, Spending Review Settlement for the Department for Education (Tuesday 23 November 2010)?

Please be aware that I am making sure I point out - Any public use of, or reference to, the contents should make clear that neither witnesses nor Members have had the opportunity to correct the record. The transcript is not yet an approved formal record of these proceedings.

The full transcript can be found here, but if you just fancy knowing what I found interesting, then please read on!

Bernadette Duffy OBE, Head, Thomas Coram Children’s Centre, Camden: 'There are some very welcome messages coming from the Government around the importance of Sure Start children’s centres, and around focusing on child development and being very clear that it is about child development and closing the gap for the most disadvantaged. However, some of the decisions that are being made...are very rapidly in danger of undermining that...There was the requirement to remove qualified teachers and early years professionals from children’s centres, which I think was also announced last Tuesday. We know that the qualifications of the staff have the biggest impact on outcomes for children, particularly the most disadvantaged, so removing the requirement to have those qualified staff is a concern at a time when local authorities are finding funding challenging. The fact that Sure Start and early years are not ring-fenced, as schools are, means that there may be a temptation-however reluctantly-to cut those things within their children’s centres to the detriment of the children.'

I believe this is a concern shared by many. However, the message about qualified staff seems to have been a little misunderstood.

An article by Sarah Teather MP in Nursery World points out that
'We are also removing the requirement for centres to have both an Early Years Professional and a Qualified Teacher. We are instead leaving it up to them to choose which of the two roles is right for their centre, to provide the highest quality advice and expertise.'
Sarah goes on to explain that,
'We know it's the quality of support that makes the biggest difference for children's development and we trust professionals to use their local knowledge and professional judgment to decide what level of graduate support they need in their own centres. But we still expect there to be at least one Early Years Professional or Qualified Teacher to provide leadership in centres.'

Please share this! The Government are not removing highly qualified staff, they are removing the need for the highly qualified staff in Children's Centres to have both QTS and EYPS.

Or am I missing something?