As an early years practitioner who has dedicated herself to the sector for 16 years, We have seen the sector hit a major crisis point where it is heavily underfunded by the government as it is not levelled up nor treated the same as the education sector within schools despite staff having to be highly skilled and trained as well as educated up to degree and masters level for many years and continue to do so throughout their entire careers in early years. Early years practitioners not only teach and care for the well-being and personally for the children, we nurse, counsel parents and Carers and their families, advocate, we also have to play a key role in their social & health care, we are their key workers for each individual child, we work all year round take work home, work late into the night, 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week and still have to look after ourselves as well as our own families. I myself have seen the stresses and strains it is putting on everyone in the sector with no incentive to stay. The pay is minimum wage as providers cannot increase the pay any further due to the major increases to all the costs of living, and wage increases, how is it fair that teachers are given a fair wage yet we are overlooked and treated as povertish, lower class educators when yet we are probably equally most highly skilled and well educated? This is very unfair and many sectors are closing down as there is no one wanting to stay within the sector due to no incentive to stay and forever increasing pressures, yet how can society function when there is no one to look after their children? It was for us to stay open during lockdown without us the doctors, nurses and many many other key workers could not work without our service.. we are the “forgotten 4th emergency service” as described by many, yet we have yet to seen the rewards or recognition for this. We are also regulated by ofsted just the same as schools. We are not a sector that look for thanks, but we are a sector that about  time should be recognised as a highly skilled and held in the same regards as the teaching profession 

A huge influx of children are coming through our doors with more needs then ever the families need us more then ever. We sacrifice our own lives so that we can give to the children and to their families

I have a family of my own I have two daughters a teenage son and a young son who is autistic and as well as a husband who all barely see me anymore due to the fact that i am stretched so thinly to spend all my time at work or doing preparation work for the children. I am someone who has life limiting illness and yet I choose to stay within the profession because the children are our future, this is my passion and I refuse to see it sink because that is what is happening it is sinking. If people within government do not start listening to practitioners here instead of “visiting abroad to see how others do it” they will lose an entire sector of education and the economy and our children will suffer furthermore. I am only an example of the very many within early years and it needs reform. 

Level up Early years funding so that our wages need can meet the needs of the staff and the sector so provisions that have been long standing do not need to close down and the children’s families are not having to have huge increases to their fees as a result of increase of cost of living.