{"id":23028,"date":"2022-04-20T15:27:08","date_gmt":"2022-04-20T15:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/04\/20\/difficult-to-fill-early-years-vacancies-says-nursery-group\/"},"modified":"2022-04-20T15:27:08","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T15:27:08","slug":"difficult-to-fill-early-years-vacancies-says-nursery-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/04\/20\/difficult-to-fill-early-years-vacancies-says-nursery-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Difficult to fill early years vacancies says nursery group"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The head of a group of day care centers said it had been “incredibly difficult” to recruit qualified staff for early childhood education.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Figures from the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) show that job vacancies in the sector have increased by 45%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Laura Andrews of Acorn Early Years, who has nurseries in Milton Keynes, Northamptonshire and Bedford, said there were “not the people out there”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Government said it is investing \u00a3180 in training pre-school staff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SEMLEP, which covers Northamptonshire, Milton Keynes and Bedfordshire, said 701 nursery teacher, assistant and playworker positions were open before the pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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According to its own information, there were now 1,015 vacancies, an increase of 45%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms Andrews, senior early years manager at the nursery group, said: “It’s just very difficult to recruit, it’s difficult to find the right people.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She said the majority of recruits are “more likely to come from other nurseries” than new people entering the sector.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms Andrew said: \u201cWe have 16 nurseries and hire in pretty much all of them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe can get unqualified ones [staff]but even that is difficult. [Recruiting] Practitioners in their early years, it’s incredibly difficult. There don’t seem to be many people going to college anymore.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She said the kindergarten group would “grow our own” through apprenticeships, but that wouldn’t immediately solve the recruitment problem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms Andrews said nurseries were unable to “offer the same money as competitors like retailers”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“The funding isn’t there from the government, the early years just aren’t seen as a priority,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Paul Thompson, employment and skills manager at SEMLEP, said job vacancies had “increased from pre-pandemic levels” in several sectors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    He said there was a combination of reasons including Brexit and “people reflecting on their work and lifestyle during the pandemic”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    An Education Department spokeswoman said: “We are increasing the hourly rates childcare workers will be paid, reflecting the costs many employers are facing, including rising wages for their staff, and have already announced a package of up to \u00a3180m to help Provide better education and support for employees who work with preschool children as part of our Education Recovery program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    “We recognize the concerns surrounding hiring and retention and are working with the industry to further evaluate how we can support vendors in this space.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Find BBC News: East of England <\/i>Facebook, <\/i>Instagram and <\/i>Twitter<\/a>. If you have an email with a story suggestion <\/i>eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk<\/p>\n<\/div>\n