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A New Professional:
Reflections on the Pilot Phase of
the Early Years Professional
Status in England
Eunice Lumsden
The University of Northampton
England
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Introduction
• This Paper reports on the initial stage of a
longitudinal study critiquing the notion of
professional identity through the
development of the Early Years Professional
• This is an unprecedented development for
those who work with children from birth to
five.
• A new multi-disciplinary professional role
has been prescribed in legislation by central
government to work in parallel with qualified
teachers in Early Years.
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Background
Until the late 1990s, early years and
childcare in the UK had been characterized
by:
• the separation of education and care
• minimal government intervention
• conflicting attitudes to working parents
• provision of variable quality
• staffing largely by low paid and poorly
qualified women.
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• Labour Government (1997) Sure Start unit
established with targets including the
creation of 1 million new childcare places.
• 2000 the Foundation Stage for 3-5 year
olds had been added to the statutory
National Curriculum Framework.
• Guidance issued to all settings in receipt
of Nursery Education Grant (QCA, 2000),
including day-care settings.
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• 2001, National Standards for Under Eights
Day Care and Childminding (DfES, 2001)
• Ofsted taken over responsibility from Local
Authorities for regulation for all early
years care and education services.
• National minimum qualification
requirement was imposed for managers of
all early years’ settings.
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These changes were impacted upon by:
• The death of Victoria Climbe (2001) and
subsequent Laming Inquiry (Laming,
2003).
• Every Child Matters (ECM) (Department of
Education and Skills, 2004)
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This led to a radical reform agenda for
children’s services in support of five
outcomes for all children:
»Stay safe
»Be healthy
»Enjoy and achieve
»Economic well-being
»Contribute to society
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The Children Act 2004, provides the legal
framework for these outcomes, and
underpins the drive to improve services
through:
– Multi-agency working
– An integrated approach to
provision of care and education
services
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• Each Local Authority had to appoint a
Director of Children’s Services responsible
for education and social care.
• Children’s Workforce Development Council
(CWCD) established to overview workforce
reform.
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The government also confirmed their
commitment to support care as well as
education by launching ‘A Ten Year
Strategy for Childcare’ as part of the prebudget report in 2004. (Department of
Education and Skills, 2004a)
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• Evidence from a large scale study (Sylva
et al., 2004) reported that better
outcomes for children in early years care
and education settings were linked to
higher levels of qualification in staff.
• These findings gave further support to the
government agenda for change and 2006
saw the Child Care Act finally removing
the distinction between education and
care for children under five years old.
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• The Child Care Act(2006) also paved the
way for the introduction of a new
statutory Early Years Foundation Stage
covering the age range birth to five.
• A new multi-disciplinary professional role
in early years in the form of EYPS, which
is broadly equivalent to Qualified Teacher
Status (QTS) for work with the 0-5 age
range.
• Targets include a professional with EYPS in
every full day-care setting by 2015.
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The development of the Early
Years Professional is central to
implementing government policy
in raising standards in the early
years, particularly in the private,
voluntary and independent (PVI)
sectors.
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Research Aims and Objectives
Stage I
To ascertain the pilot
candidates views on the
validation process for Early
Years Professional Status
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Methods for Pilot Study Stage 1
Questionnaire survey of all those
following EYPS programmes in
the East Midlands in 2007-08 at
the outset of the course and on
being awarded the status.
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Key Findings and Discussion
Pilot Candidates
Numbers enrolled on the course = 38
Numbers returning questionnaires = 30
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AGE
40
20-29
3
30
20
30-39
11
40-49
11
10
50-59
5
0
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
AGE
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ROLE
16
14
12
10
8
6
EY
EY
2
C
N
O
0
SU
18
Eunice Lumsden 2007
ROLE
ER
H
AC
TE
R
R
RO
O
RET
EENC
NT
E
IRDW
M
DINO
M
DREY
ER T
AILER
AG NERA
CHS
DCR
AN DHI
ILU
M RC
A
HN
T
E EO
C
N
H TO
RI
C
RDE
EC Y
OG
R RY
C LSIET
OA
C
AN
BRI
RM
AU
R
E
E
ISN
Y
D
D E
D
R
INE
IN R
MS
M SEL
DR
D RNA V
ILU
IL U D
HN
H N IO A
C
C AT E
T CY G E
R ER A
S
DU T CH
PORE S
P UR N EA N
N
SU IO IO T E
N AT T DR
S
SE ND LI IL
U CIA CH
FO E ER
SP H
T
C
N
EY A
A
TE
LT
4
Previous Qualifications
PG
UG
60
100
50
80
40
60
30
40
Percent
Percent
20
10
0
ECS
EDUQTS
CERTEDU
20
0
MA
OTHER
PGCE
NONE
PG
UG
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EYPS is a Positive Step Forward
EYPS IS A POSITIVE STEP
40
30
20
Percent
10
0
AGREE
NEITHER
TEND AGREE
DISAGREE
TEND DISAGREE
ROLE OF THE EYP IS A POSITIVE STEP FORWARD
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Assessment Process
40
30
20
Percent
10
0
AGREE
NEITHER
TEND AGREE
DISAGREE
TEND DISAGREE
THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS WAS TOO PRESCRIBED
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Nature of the Assessment
RIGOROUS ASSESSMENT
40
30
20
Percent
10
0
AGREE
TEND AGREE
NEITHER
TEND DISAGREE
RIGOROUS ASSESSMENT
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USE OF WITNESSES
POSIVE USE OF WITNESSES
80
60
40
Percent
20
0
AGREE
TEND AGREE
NEITHER
I WELCOMED THE USE OF WITNESSESES
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Need for a Professional Dialogue
PROFESSIONAL DIALOGUE
60
50
40
30
Percent
20
10
0
AGREE
NEITHER
TEND AGREE
DISAGREE
TEND DISAGREE
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Standards
STANDARDS ARE APPROPRIATE
60
50
40
30
Percent
20
10
0
AGREE
TEND AGREE
NEITHER
TEND DISAGREE
STANDARDS ARE APPROPRIATE
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Improved Services for Children
EYPS WILL IMPROVE STANDARDS
FOR CHILDREN
40
30
Percent
20
10
0
AGREE
NEITHER
TEND AGREE
DISAGREE
TEND DISAGREE
IMPROVED SERVICES FOR CHILDREN
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EYPS NEVER EQUAL TO TEACHER
EYPS SHOULD EARN THE SAME AS QTS
50
40
40
30
30
20
20
10
Percent
Percent
Relationship with Teaching
10
0
AGREE
0
AGREE
TEND AGREE
NEITHER
TEND DISAGREE
EYPS AND TEACHING QUALIFICATION NOT EQUAL
NEITHER
TEND AGREE
DISAGREE
TEND DISAGREE
EYPS SHOULD EARN THE SAME AS QTS
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A Move to Social Pedagogy
MISSED OPPORTUNITY IN DEVELOPING
AN INTEGRATED PROFESSIONAL
50
40
30
Percent
20
10
0
AGREE
NEITHER
TEND AGREE
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DISAGREE
TEND DISAGREE
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Conclusion
• Candidates welcome development
EYPS
• Standards are seen as appropriate
• Assessment process seen as
appropriately rigorous
• Overall candidates found the
paperwork was manageable
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• Use of witnesses seen as positive
• Need for a professional dialogue
• EYPS will improve the status of early
years
• EYPS allowed candidates to reflective
positively on their practice
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• There are issues in relation to pay
and the relationship with teaching
• Interestingly that the majority of the
candidates had not pursued higher
academic qualifications
• Overall candidates were positive
about the process, the standards and
the support received
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Referencing
•
Department of Education and Skills (2001) National Standards for Under Eights: Day
care and childminding. London: HMSO.
•
Department of Education and Skills (2004b) Children Act 2004. London: HMSO.
•
Children’s Workforce Development Council (2006) Early Years Professional
Prospectus. Leeds: CWDC.
•
Department for Education and Skills (2006) The Childcare Act. [online] Available on:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/ukpga_20060021_en.pdf [Accessed 12th
February 2007].
•
Department of Education and Skills (2004a) Every Child Matters: Change for
Children. London: HMSO. Available from: http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/
[Accessed 30th October 2006]
•
Gammage, P. (2006) Early Childhood Education and Care: Politics, policies and
possibilities. Early Years, Vol. 26, No. 3, October 2006, pp. 235–248.
•
Lord Laming, H. (2003) Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbe. London: The
Stationary Office.
•
Owen, S. (2006) Training and Workforce Issues in the Early Years. In G. Pugh and
Duffy, B. (eds) contemporary Issues in the Early Years. London: Sage Publication.
pp. 183-194.
•
Sylva, K., Melhuish, E. C., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I. and Taggart, B. (2004)
The Effective Provision of PreSchool Education (EPPE) Project: Technical Paper 12
The Final Report: Effective PreSchool Education. London: DfES / Institute of
Education, University of London.
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