Opening the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) annual conference in Chester last week, Mrs Hodge said, 'Since the introduction of the national childcare strategy in 1997, massive progress has been made in the provision of good-quality and affordable childcare. Private nurseries have played a crucial role in this success and have helped to give families real choice.'
Mrs Hodge described the NDNA as 'a key partner in our drive to ensure every child gets a sure start in life'. She praised the private nursery sector for rising to the Government's challenge to increase the number of childcare places and taking onboard the development of children's centres.
Afterwards Mrs Hodge fielded questions from more than 400 delegates on a range of subjects, including low pay in the sector. She was challenged but stood firm over the Government's insistence that every children's centre should employ someone with qualified teacher status, as opposed to a practitioner with an early years degree.
Speaking afterwards, NDNA chief executive Rosemary Murphy said, 'What Mrs Hodge did lay out very clearly was that she hasn't got the money or the answers, but she is aware of the problems.'
Mrs Murphy said she believed there needed to be more discussion on the role of early years professionals and qualified teachers in children's centres, given the increased number of practitioners studying early years degrees.
'I think there needs to be a bigger dialogue on this, but at the moment the Government is adamant that there has to be a teacher,' she added.
Delegates at the two-day conference, on the theme of 'Investing in the future', also debated how nurseries could adapt and develop to meet the need for integrated services, extended schools and children's centres.