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The OVO Foundation, which supports a range of organisations working to tackle youth homelessness, educational inequality and access to energy, has awarded Teach Early Years Award-winning Tales Toolkit £80,000 over the next two years. The money will be used to fund projects running in the London Borough of Newham, Rochdale and Stockport – these will see 50 practitioners helping to develop young children’s language, literacy and socio-emotional skills through play- based storytelling, while also supporting their parents to use the resources employed at home. To find out more, visit bit.do/TEYttk News “Our own research with the sector shows that qualified staff are leaving the sector and the levels of qualified staff at level 2 and 3 are hugely in decline.” PURNIMA TANUKU OBE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, NDNA TACKLING INEQUALITY Workforce development lacks strategy PARENTS WHO REPORT FEELING PRESSURE ABOUT WHEN THEIR CHILD WILL TAKE THEIR FIRST STEPS – THE RESEARCH WAS CARRIED OUT BY ACTIVITY CLASS FRANCHISE TODDLER SENSE. Teachearlyyears.com 07 Workforce development has been a hot topic in the early years sector for some considerable time, and a new report produced by the Education Policy Institute and funded by the Nuffield Foundation offers a useful overview of the impact of 15 years of policy in the area, as well as a view on whether current policies have the sector on the right track. The bad news for government ministers is that, according to ‘Early years workforce development in England: Key ingredients and missed opportunities’, the majority of efforts to bring about improvement since 2014 have at best failed to have the desired impact and at worst created their own problems. The report runs the rule over the decision to introduce a minimum GCSE requirement for workers (2014–17), the expansion of the two-year-old entitlement (2014–present) and the introduction of the 30 hours offer. It notes that the increase in the number of early years workers related to the expansions of entitlements did not lead to an improvement in qualification levels, while the GCSE policy succeeded only in creating difficulties in attracting staff to the sector and hindered the development of existing staff members. There is, the report says, one historical success story. The Graduate Leader Fund, which ran 2007–2011, saw the number of early years workers with bachelor’s degree or equivalent increase by 76%, while the number with a master’s rose by 13%. Unfortunately, when its funding was no longer ring-fenced, the improvements it had brought about quickly faded away. And existing policy? The report suggests the government “lacks a long-term strategy to develop the early years workforce – which is central to improving the quality of early years education and supporting the outcomes of the most disadvantaged children”. It calls upon ministers to renew its commitment to upskilling the workforce and make a plan to develop the sector over the decade. You can download the report in full at bit.do/TEYepi1 37% World Book Day is nearly here. If you’ve yet to make plans for Thursday 5 March, turn to page 16 for some fantastic picture book activities! Save the date