Voice Community – the education and early years section of Community Union – has welcomed new research from the Education Policy Institute on early years graduates and young children’s attainment (Early Years Workforce Qualifications and Children’s outcomes and A Systemic Review of Early Years Degrees and Employment Pathways). Voice Community also commented on the Low Pay Commission’s National Minimum Wage report.
Community Assistant General Secretary (Voice Section) Deborah Lawson said:
“We welcome this new research and key findings about the value and impact of high-quality early education”.
“We continue to call on the Government to take urgent action on the qualifications, pay and status of Early Years Teachers to prevent the loss from the profession of talented and dedicated graduates who understand the uniqueness of a child’s early development .
“We need to see the Government recommit to its workforce strategy and the abandoned graduate feasibility study, and implement and invest in a national career and pay structure.
“The latest Low Pay Commission National Minimum Wage report highlighted ‘hardship among childcare workers’, with more than one in ten having a household income of £17,000 or less, and ‘significant numbers struggling’. These findings applied to childcare workers with degrees as well as to those with low qualification levels.
“The Prime Minster has stated his enthusiasm for ‘levelling up’. It’s now time for him to take action and level-up funding, status, training and pay levels, and put the early years at the heart, as well as the start, of lifelong learning and economic recovery.”
You can read the report here.
If you are a member of Community and need help or advice, please contact us at help@community-tu.org or on 0800 389 6332.
© Community Trade Union 2025
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