Qualifications Call for Nurseries

Higher education qualifications should be on offer for nursery nurses and childminders, an expert report is expected to say. A review group set up by the Scottish Executive is due to publish its findings on Thursday. It is expected to recommend that qualifications be streamlined and improved to raise the status of the profession and attract more recruits. That could see childcare workers being able to study up to degree level.

Ministers are also due to reveal their response to the recommendations on Thursday.

Earlier this year Holyrood’s education committee called for an “upskilling” of staff and more investment from the Scottish Executive. MSPs, who spent 18 months studying services for under-fives, said children were not always getting enough support at a critical time in their lives.

Concern was voiced over moves by some councils to replace nursery teachers with less-qualified staff, particularly in deprived areas.

The MSPs also called on the executive to update its early years strategy and said childminders and “informal carers” such as grandparents needed more support.