Teach first to be extended to Early Years

[Simona]

What do you make of this?

Teach First extended to the early years | Nursery World

[The Juggler]

i read that yesterday. although in principle I think its great that they believe the need to improve teaching in early years as important as primary and secondary but it really saddens me to think they think that graduates straight out of uni are far better placed than those who have worked for years in early years and go on to achieve a degree with added experience. They wouldn't qualify for Teach First as they've already been working for years.

why not extend the salaried teaching scheme to early years as well as Teach First to those who went through the pathways of foundation degrees and top ups. At present there are very few of those placements around.

[Smiley]

Well said Juggler

[Simona]

I too agree with you Juggler and this is Truss' explanation of her plan

Exclusive: Teach First will benefit under fives | Nursery World

[The Juggler]

ok so in theory, us experienced early years professionals could apply from Ms Truss explanation. Whether a degree earned earlier in life or one just gained now with the added advantage of working with children for years (still think this is the group she should target though )

however, her comments about wages mean nothing! teaching salaries will always be teaching salaries, encouraging people to retrain as qualified early years teachers is NOT going to increase the pay of graduates in nurseries or encourage nurseries to employ a higher ratio of more qualified staff - because it will cost them too much - ergo they will NOT be able to reduce parent costs.

Again I see Ms Truss going towards putting all small children into a classroom with qualified teachers - she'll be wanting babies in there next. Even more reason to have early years teachers with experience of working with very young children to protect them and fight for their rights to be cared for and play not be experiencing classroom environments meant for much older children.