Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the level of graduate leadership in the early years sector.
The early years foundation stage framework is mandatory for all early years providers in England. It sets out the staffing requirements for early years settings, including ratios and qualifications.
While the department does not require graduates to be employed in private, voluntary and independent early years settings, we are committed to ensuring that there are routes to graduate-level qualifications for the early years workforce. We fully fund the early years initial teacher training programme which leads to early years teacher status, including bursaries and employer incentives.