Steve Brine bought forward a special debate in the House of Commons today on the role of early years educators.
The MP for Winchester & Chandler’s Ford, who is chair of the APPG for Childcare and Early Education, led the important debate which coincided with the All-Party group’s Childcare and Early Education Week 2022.
It plays host to a number of meetings and events to highlight the needs of the sector, with this year’s theme as celebrating the role of the early years’ workforce as educators and seeking to explore the challenges they face. Steve opened the debate after moments earlier being re-elected the chair of the group at their AGM.
The MP paid tribute to members from across the House for their support for the sector and for the many members who joined him in Westminster Hall. He began by highlighting some of the many comments shared during a recent parents forum organised by the APPG including; “One parent spoke about the empathy, patience, and humour an early years’ educator had shown when working both herself and her child with SEND.”
The debate took place only a few months after the Government announced that they would be quadrupling the funding going to early years settings over the next three years, during last year’s spending review. Steve paid tribute to the work of the MP for Bury North in supporting him during their joint lobbying of the Chancellor ahead of the recent Budget.
Mr Brine’s remarks, which were met with wide agreement, included a call on pay equality for early years workers; “We must address the workforce challenge that our early years’ sector is facing. This can only be done, in my opinion, by paying our early years’ educators the same as those working with the Reception Year Group. The present system is inequitable and unfair. I think this change would be transformative to our valued early years workers.
That is the cornerstone of what this Government can do deliver for our early years professionals and the families they support.”
Steve’s full speech including his comments on the “market failure” in the early years sector can be watched back here.
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