While America has few university programs offering majors in early-childhood education, England is poised to develop two specific university tracks for teachers who care for their babies, toddlers and preschoolers.
The policy is part of a larger effort to both improve the quality of child care and make it more affordable, according to the England’s Department of Education plan entitled “More Great Childcare: Raising Quality and Giving Parents More Choice” and available here.
“We need consistently high quality nursery education and child care that attracts the best possible staff,” wrote Parliamentary Undersecretary of State Elizabeth Truss, who is in charge of education and child care for the Department of Education.
“We need a system of regulation and inspection that has high expectations of quality, which gives providers the incentives and the flexibility they need to deliver the best for children,” she added.
Truss was pounded in the English press this winter for suggesting English day cares—called nurseries—are “chaotic.”
See a local press report here.