The Government published the SEED report into the quality of childcare last December. The report concluded that higher qualifications, staff development and support, and lower staff turnover were associated with higher quality provision. There are indeed problems, all along the line.
There are now many types of qualifications, and many providers of training, some good, some on the cowboy end. Outside of local authority employment, qualifications are not usually linked to pay entitlements or career progression, which means there is not much incentive any longer to obtain them.
Apprenticeship-based qualifications, indeed any childcare qualifications, raise all sorts of issues about transferability; what are qualifications are worth outside the industry, or even outside a given workplace? Not surprisingly, there are increasing numbers of staff without any qualifications at all.
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