The landscape of Early Years teacher training is changing. The importance of high-quality, graduate-led education for the under-fives is increasingly recognised, both within the Government and among the wider teaching community.
The Nuffield Report (2014), Quality and Inequality – Do three and four-year-olds in deprived areas experience lower quality early years provision?, confirms that Early Years teachers, as graduates, have a real impact on quality and outcomes for young children.
This is echoed in The Department for Education’s 2014 policy, Improving the quality and range of education and childcare from birth to five years, which states: “Providing children with good quality education and care in their earliest years can help them succeed at school and later in life. This contributes to creating a society where opportunities are equal regardless of background.”
This new legislation aims to improve early education by building a stronger and better qualified Early Years workforce, to ensure the highest quality training and to encourage more high-calibre graduates into Early Years education.
Building on the strength of the Early Years Professional Status, National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) recently announced a number of changes to the way Early Years Initial Teacher Training (EYITT) will now be provided.
From September 2014, EYITT can only be delivered by accredited ITT providers. In addition, practitioners with Early Years Teacher Status now enjoy equal status with their Qualified Teacher Status counterparts – all of which helps to professionalise Early Years teaching and raise standards across the board.
Edge Hill University, as an accredited provider of ITT and Early Years Teacher Status, offers several routes into Early Years teaching and has developed a dedicated Early Years Education Area, distinct from Primary Education, to reflect the importance of this critical stage in young children’s development.
“This new area within the Faculty of Education builds on the University’s excellent and long-standing reputation for providing high quality Primary and Early Years education,” says Karen Boardman, Edge Hill’s Head of Early Years Education.
“It’s a good starting point in raising the status of early years and early years teaching as a career, and allows us to focus on enhancing our relationships with education partners to provide EYITT students with a diverse range of teaching experience, including in international settings.”
Potential Edge Hill students who want to work with young children can choose to study for Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS) or Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) depending on the age range they want to teach. EYTS routes focus on birth to five years, allowing trainees to become specialists in early childhood development and reflective pedagogical leaders with professional practice experiences with babies, toddlers and young children. QTS routes focus on three to seven years, incorporating nursery, Reception and Key Stage 1 professional practice experiences.
Even if they want to specialise in a certain age range, our trainees all gain professional practice experience with other age ranges,” explains Karen. “So, EYTS students will work with Key Stage 1 children to ensure they understand, and can support, the transition from Early Years Foundation Stage to the National Curriculum. Similarly, QTS students also work with Key Stage 2 children and have valuable experience with under-threes.
“Some Early Years practitioners have no interest in teaching children beyond Reception, while others like the flexibility of being able to work with older children too. It all depends on a student’s individual ambitions.
“The QTS status enables qualified teachers to work with children from 3-19 years, while Early Years Teacher Status is focused on the birth to five age range as a specialism.”
Edge Hill University trainees on all routes into Early Years teaching engage with research on the fundamentals of early years, pedagogy and practice, enabling environments, inclusion, theories of child development, leadership and management, planning and assessment, early maths, early reading and phonics, subject specific KS1 and KS2 and National Curriculum (2014), as well as gaining practical experience of a wide range of Early Years settings.
“This critical engagement with research and practice enables Edge Hill University trainees to develop and embed high quality reflective practice within their professional context, strengthen employability and have a direct impact on outcomes for babies and young children,” adds Karen.
Potential Edge Hill students who want to work with young children can choose to study for Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS) or Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) depending on the age range they want to teach.
Case study: Andy Mitchell is studying for a PGCE in Early Years at Edge Hill.
Early Years Teacher Status
Qualified Teacher Status
