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EXCLUSIVE: Early years workforce 'will get less well qualified'

The current workforce is facing a ‘ticking timebomb’ of staff shortages combined with falling qualifications levels and an increasing reliance on unpaid staff, the Education Policy Institute has found.

In a set of exclusive predictions for Nursery Management, the EPI finds that in 2023, four-fifths of staff will not be working towards a higher qualification level.

These projections are based on current workforce trends and form part of an analysis of the early years workforce in its past, present and future forms.

Author Sara Bonetti, associate director of early years at the EPI, says ‘21 per cent of staff qualified at Level 6 or higher are aged 50 years-plus and will be approaching retirement within the next ten to 15 years.

'If trends continue, by 2023, 80 per cent of group-based staff will not be working towards a higher qualification level. Matching this with data on the decreasing number of Level 3 staff since the (temporary) introduction of GCSE English and maths requirements, it is not surprising that providers are experiencing difficulties hiring Level 3 staff.’

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