The proverbial cat seems to have been well and truly put among the pigeons with the launch of the Children’s Workforce Development Council’s tendering process for the delivery of Early Years Professional Status for 2012-14 (see our story).
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Children’s minister Sarah Teather visited students on the New Leaders in Early Years programme last week and I tagged along too. Read More »

What on earth is going on with early years and childcare qualifications? It’s a couple of weeks from the deadline for all the existing sector-related qualifications to be replaced by the new Level 2 and 3 Diplomas for the Children and Young People’s Workforce, yet everything is up in the air once more. Read More »

Looking through nine decades of back-issues of Nursery World magazine in preparation for our 85th anniversary next month is a real eye-opener.

There’s tonnes of fun and quirky material that we’ll be sharing in a special birthday supplement (check it out on 2 December) but there’s also much frustration. Read More »

Free schools are increasingly looking like a policy idea dreamt up by ministers who are making it up as they go along and that pretty much anything goes.

Including it seems employing people to teach children who may or may not be teachers. It seems that for free schools, employing qualified teachers could actually be an optional requirement. Where do we go from here?
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Intriguing to read that hotel heiress Paris Hilton would love to be a nursery school teacher because she ‘loves kids’. I’m sure she’d be great, and most of her skills could be put to use to fulfil the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage!

There would be some fabulous role play sessions with Paris’s extensive wardrobe, along with some lovely creative activities making perfumes and putting in hair extensions.

Paris Hilton - what are nurseries missing?

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