Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many graduates gained employment in the early years sector in the last 12 months for which data is available.

The exact information requested is not available, however, the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes data on the outcomes of graduates 15 months after qualifying from higher education in the graduate outcomes survey, further information about the survey is available here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/graduates. From this, the department estimates that approximately 1% of UK domiciled first-degree graduates from English higher education providers in 2018/19 progressed to employment in the early years sector[1] in the UK 15 months after qualifying. According to separate statistics published by HESA, there were a total of 295,825 UK domiciled first-degree qualifiers from English higher education providers in that year. These are available here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-26.

The department also knows that the majority of the early years workforce are not graduates. The survey of childcare and early years providers 2021 estimated that around 32% of early years staff in schools were qualified to degree level in 2021, relative to 11% in private and voluntary group-based providers, the survey can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1039675/Main_summary_survey_of_childcare_and_early_years_providers_2021.pdf. No substantial changes have taken place in the distributions of staff qualification levels in this sector over recent years.

[1] Identified using relevant Standard Occupational Classification codes 2315 Nursery education teaching professionals, 2324 Early education and childcare services managers, 3222 Child and early years officers, 3232 Early education and childcare practitioners, 6111 Early education and childcare assistants, 6114 Childminders, 6116 Nannies and au pairs and 6117 Playworkers: https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/classificationsandstandards/standardoccupationalclassificationsoc/soc2020.