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

9. RECOMMENDATIONS

• In centres aiming to improve their performance, service providers should take steps to improve management and leadership skills to ensure a higher quality of provision and improve the outcomes for pre-school children’s learning.
• In centres with no teacher involvement, staff should be encouraged and supported to develop their skills and knowledge so that they may have a significant impact on the quality of learning and teaching provided.
• Less qualified staff need to be well supported to gain qualifications and improve skills through access to training, taking account of the requirements of the SSSC for staff.
• Local authorities need to ensure that, when they review the role and remit of teachers in early education, they make appropriate and effective use of the particular skills and expertise of teachers to ensure that they maintain the consistently high standard of provision and support for pre-school children’s development and progress.
• Where services are being reorganised, care should be taken not to weaken existing, effective provision, such as that found most often in nursery schools with teacher involvement, which are providing high-quality nursery education.
• Difficulties in accessing sufficient high quality early education establishments for student teacher placements should be addressed in liaison with teacher education institutions and local education authorities.
• The rules applied by GTCS, whereby newly qualified teachers cannot fulfil their probationary period wholly in a nursery school or class, should be reviewed to avoid the loss of new and enthusiastic teachers coming into the early education workforce.
• There is a need to address, at a national level, the full range of issues which limit recruitment and retention, particularly in rural situations, to ensure high-quality experiences for pre-school children.

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