- Specific measures to achieve genuine equivalence between EYP Status (EYPS) and Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)
- A clearly-defined national pay framework for EYPs to ensure fair-pay treatment that recognises their curriculum leadership role
- Central Government to support the application of this national pay framework, across the mixed market of childcare providers, via subsidies where necessary
- A specific programme of continuing professional development for EYPs
- Protocols to clarify the working relationship between EYPs and managers of settings, and between EYPs and other childcare staff
- Intensified efforts to communicate the distinct nature of the EYP role to all interested parties across the country.
National delegations from Aspect's EYP section are to meet with senior officials at the DCSF and the Children's Workforce Development Council to raise these key issues.
Aspect is well-placed to conduct trade union and professional activity on behalf of EYPs. It specialises in representing key professionals in children's services and leads the Children's Services Professionals' Network (CSPN), to which a dozen national professional bodies are affiliated and which is regularly consulted by CWDC chief executive Jane Haywood and senior DCSF officials.
It is right that EYPs, through their own professional voice, should shape such activity and advance their interests, as the EYFS 'beds in'.
Further information: www.aspect.org.uk.