New EYFS Consultation Proposes Plans to Change Early Years Staff Qualification Rules

New EYFS Consultation Proposes Plans to Change Early Years Staff Qualification Rules

In a consultation with the EYFS, the Department for Education announced plans to change the EYFS Framework which will adjust staff qualification requirements and staff to child ratios.

Main changes:

• Reducing the percentage of level 2 qualified staff required per ratio from ‘at least half’ to either 30% or 40% for children of all ages

• Removing the need for level 3 educators to hold a level 2 (or equivalent) maths qualification, and to apply this requirement to managers only.

• Introduction of a new experience-based route for educators to gain approved status without the need of gaining a new qualification. The new route would only be available to staff identified as holding most of the relevant Level 3 Early Years Educator criteria.

The proposed changes aim at improving staff recruitment and retention while granting greater flexibility to setting managers to utilise existing staff within the ratios with fewer regulatory restrictions.
In recent years the Government has face increased pressures to put in place effective measures to tackle staff shortages and to improve non-traditional routes into the profession. The new proposed should address some of those concerns.

Nevertheless, the new proposed changes have been met with some resistance from practitioners. Some educators worry about the implication that the new changes will have on the quality of education offered to children and the growing threats to the de-professionalisation of the sector.

Speaking on the recent consultation, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: “We’re clear that any changes to qualifications requirements must not – and cannot – lead to a lowering of standards within the early years sector, and will fully oppose any attempts to do so.”