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THE KEY ROLE OF STAFF IN PROVIDING QUALITY PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION

1. INTRODUCTION

Guidance on the roles of teachers in pre-school education contained in the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000 came into force in 2002. The guidance, along with other regulatory measures, replaced the pre-school education provisions in the Schools (Scotland) Code 1956. The new provisions removed the statutory requirement to have a set ratio of one teacher to twenty children in nursery classes. The repeal gave local authorities greater flexibility in deploying teachers in pre-school centres.

The new guidance aimed to:

• identify and affirm the value of the contribution trained teachers made to the quality of experiences for children in pre-school education;
• set the involvement of teachers alongside the contributions of other staff and underline the importance of team working;
• identify ways in which teachers added value to the early education experience, both within and outwith the pre-school settings;
• identify key factors which made for successful integration of teachers within staff teams; and
• encourage authorities to consider carefully future staffing arrangements which reflected the interrelationships between care and education, and the need to provide flexible opportunities for the use of staff skills.

The guidance highlighted the increasingly important role of all staff involved in delivering pre-school education. It recognised that a new relationship was needed between teachers and staff with other qualifications, and the different roles teachers can play in making effective contributions in pre-school.

This report looks at the key and changing role played by staff in pre-school education and the implications for the quality of children’s learning across the sector. It evaluates the different types of pre-school provision and the qualifications and backgrounds of teachers and other staff in relation to the quality of children’s experiences. It also considers the training and deployment of teachers and other staff working in the pre-school sector. In the period covered by the report (2003 to 2006), teachers were the main degree-level professionals involved in delivering pre-school education. The report, therefore, focuses on the staff qualifications relating to the workforce at that time. As the level of qualifications of the workforce develops, including other degree-level qualifications, a different picture may emerge on the impact for children of a different mix of highly qualified professionals.

Evidence for this report was gathered from HMIE integrated inspections from 2003 to 2006 in local authority nursery schools, classes and family/children’s centres, and partner centres in the private and voluntary sectors. Inspectors gathered information from visits to, and contact with, local authorities. Inspectors also drew from the following sources:

• HMIE’s Improving Scottish Education Report (2006);
• Education Committee Early Years Enquiry: Executive Summary (2006);
• Report on the Integrated Inspection of Early Education and Childcare Services, which included an external review commissioned from Market Research UK (mruk), a firm of independent research consultants;
• National Review of the Early Years and Childcare Workforce; and
• Research from the national longitudinal research, The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project.

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