Abstract:
The first report from IPPR's Working out of Poverty series highlighted the significant and growing problem of poverty among working people and their families. The aim of this report is to investigate how these issues play out in one particular low wage sector &em; the early years &em; highlighting both challenges that are common across low wage sectors and those that are distinctive to the early years.
Drawing on this primary research and a detailed analysis of the early years sector and its current market model, three key problems have been identified as standing in the way of shifting the early years sector towards higher level skills, greater quality and higher wages.
The three key problems identified are:
Pay- The perpetuation of low pay undermines efforts to raise the quality of the early years workforce and the services it provides.
Progression (training)- Only seven percent of those working in full-day care settings have post secondary school qualifications.
Professionalisation- There is evidence that the current process of professionalising the early years workforce is alienating practitioners and skewing efforts to drive up the quality of services.