Strict rules around qualification levels of early years staff are to be relaxed from September to give the sector "respite" from a long-running recruitment crisis, the government has announced.

In a consultation response published today, the Department for Education (DfE) confirmed details of a new "experience-based" route for early years staff.

This route will waive a staff-to-child ratio rule stipulating that at least one staff member must hold an approved level 3 qualification in each early years age group.

The government hopes the plans - set in motion by the Conservatives early last year - will help early years providers "address the challenges they are facing recruiting and retaining the right educators".

Experts say the move will help address urgent staff shortages but have warned that the crisis is caused by "huge disparities" in pay and working conditions.

Staffing shortages in the sector are likely to limit the number of new early years places available, despite the government increasing "free early education" hours to 30 hours per week for all under-fives from September this year.

Experienced based route

About 1,200 people and organisations responded to the consultation - which ran from April to June last year - with the majority agreeing that early years providers should be able to award experienced-based staff themselves.

Under the new rules, managers at Ofsted 'good' or 'outstanding' providers will be allowed to count staff who don't have a level 2 early years qualification or a "full or relevant" level 3 qualification as having a level 3 qualification.

The staff member must have at least one year of experience in early years and meet at least 50 percent of the criteria for level 3.

Before making a final decision, the manager - who must have worked in early years for at least two years - will be required to supervise the staff member for about 30 days.

The government said it is "clear" that the experience-based route will eventually be "phased out" and replaced with a "long term assessment-based route" for experienced-based level 3 staff to "gain a full and relevant qualification".

However, it is unclear when this is likely to be rolled out.

'Welcome respite'

Sector bodies hope that the rule change will encourage more diverse staff to enter early years.

However, Neil Leitch, chief executive officer of the Early Years Alliance, said while the new route will likely offer "some welcome respite" from the staffing crisis, it should be part of a "wider recruitment and retention strategy".

He added: "Ultimately, if the government not only wants to attract new educators into the sector but also ensure they stay in the long term, it needs to ensure that those working in the sector get the respect - and crucially, the pay - they so clearly deserve."

Highly qualified teachers needed

Shortly after confirming the plans, the government also announced a new early years teacher degree apprenticeship standard.

Education minister Stephen Morgan said the three-year course would be a "vital step" to delivering an early years system that ensures children start school "ready to learn".

Professor Eunice Lumsden, head of childhood youth and families at the University of Northampton, said research shows that children benefit from a "high quality, graduate-led" early childhood education.

She added: "However, there is no doubt we have a sector in crisis; I know how many are struggling to recruit, and this new route offers opportunities for experienced practitioners whose qualifications do not meet the full and relevant criteria. 

"There are no easy solutions to the current situation, but it is important that one of the unintended consequences of this direction of travel is that expectations for qualifications are lowered."

Source: FE Week