Helping to alleviate Early Years staff shortages

The manager of a group of nurseries said it had been “incredibly difficult” to recruit qualified early years staff.

As a former teacher, Deputy and SEND Support Manager, a recent article on the BBC’s website really resonated with me concerning a massive 45% increase in vacancies for Early Years practitioners in Bedford, Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire. (Source: SEMLEP – the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership).

Despite assurances from the Government that it was investing £180 million into pre-school staff training, the Manager of one of the region’s nursery groups said that potential new recruits “just weren’t out there”; that recruitment to the sector had become “really difficult” and, despite successfully “home-growing their own”, that apprenticeships would not immediately address this worrying shortfall in EYS teaching numbers.

And the story would appear to be the same in a great many of the UK’s other towns and cities, with factors as diverse as Brexit and a lack of adequate EYS support and training conspiring to create a perfect storm at this critical stage of formal education.