His contention is that as women become better educated and have better job opportunities, it will become increasingly difficult to attract them into childcare, because the work is badly paid and undervalued.
Rosemary Murphy of the National Day Nurseries Association, however, argues that childcarers are not undervalued by the parents whose children they work with. This is certainly true - parents hugely appreciate the skills and dedication of good childcarers. The problem is that childcare work has been undervalued by a succession of governments and by society in general.
Numerous remedies, such as subsidising childcare salaries and raising the general level of qualification, should be looked at urgently. The amount of expansion planned for the early years sector cannot be staffed through recruitment campaigns alone.
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