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'Let's get real about reform'

The early years and childcare sector must have realistic expectations for reform of the children's workforce in responding to the current consultation, said Paul Ennals, chief executive of the National Children's Bureau, speaking at the National Day Nurseries Association conference last week. Mr Ennals, who was shadow chair of the Children's Workforce Development Council, said that the 'knotty issues' in moving to a joined-up workforce included whether graduate leaders should be teachers or pedagogues. Here, he argued, ideology had to be balanced with practice. 'We have a good infrastructure for training teachers. We could tweak it and get it rolling today. Or we could develop an entirely new profession, and it will be 2011 until we get the first people coming on to the streets,' he said.

Mr Ennals, who was shadow chair of the Children's Workforce Development Council, said that the 'knotty issues' in moving to a joined-up workforce included whether graduate leaders should be teachers or pedagogues. Here, he argued, ideology had to be balanced with practice. 'We have a good infrastructure for training teachers. We could tweak it and get it rolling today. Or we could develop an entirely new profession, and it will be 2011 until we get the first people coming on to the streets,' he said.

Making the sums add up was also a challenge, he said, with the 125m a year Transformation Fund likely only to 'cover the cost of the meetings over the next four years!' But funding to meet higher costs could not all be met by the Government, he warned - providers would have to 'persuade parents that they have to pay more' for well-qualified staff.

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