Nurseries and pre-schools who have 75% or more of their staff qualified to level 3 or higher are more likely to be rated ‘outstanding’, according to statistics published by Ofsted.
The education watchdog has published data showing that 1,370 nurseries with the higher number of qualified staff have been rated ‘outstanding’, whereas only 522 nurseries which had less than three quarters of their staff qualified to level 3 or above achieved the same rating.
A total of 6,872 childcare providers with more qualified staff got a ‘good’ rating compared to 4,434 providers with less qualified staff.
Ofsted looked at staff with Early Years Professional / Early Years Teacher (EYP/EYT) status, staff with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), and staff qualified from level 1 through to Level 8. A-levels were seen as equivalent to a level 3 qualification.
Chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, Neil Leitch, said:
“Research has showed that highly-qualified staff have a positive impact on the quality of early years provision, and so we are unsurprised at these findings.
“Given that Ofsted inspectors are now expected to take qualifications into account when judging providers, we would expect this trend to continue going forward.”
Director of Quality and Workforce Development at NDNA, Stella Ziolkowski, believes that for providers, employing a well-qualified, professional workforce, with clear career progression paths, is key to high quality care and education.
To view the statistics go to: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inspection-outcomes-of-early-years-providers-by-staff-qualifications--2
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