Dear Manager,
I am emailing you to let you know that the Graduate Employment Based and the Graduate Entry
Mainstream, Early Years Teacher Status pathways will now commence in September 2015, subject to
NCTL funding and not as originally planned during September 2014.
The reason being is that we have listened to students and employers voices from across the early
years sector who have reported that, what they perceive as constant changes, has impacted on their
confidence in further study and qualifications. It is fair to say that the early years landscape has
shifted significantly over the past years and that we have been very aware of the impact that this has
made upon our students. In delaying the start of these postgraduate pathways, it will give us the
opportunity to engage with colleagues from across the early years sector to instil confidence, design
new progression routes and a Graduate Employment Based pathway to Early Years Teacher Status
that will allow students to meet the Teacher Standards Early Years.
We are also very aware that students may have been put off by the requirement to gain a science
GCSE, or equivalent, whilst studying for their degree. By delaying the rollout of these pathways, it
will give students the opportunity to finish their degree studies and then take a year to take science
(and in many cases maths as well) through a taught GCSE rather than take the equivalency tests as
this will also prepare them better for the national skills tests that they will need to sit as part of the
entry criteria.
We are very committed to building on the strengths of our FD, BA, Early Years Professional Status
and the current Early Years Teacher programme. We have supported a significant number of
professionals to go on to gain a national status, with representatives from both Kent and Medway
Local Authorities , confirming that our programmes have helped to raise standards across the early
years sector as a whole. We have just been highly commended by the QAA from this year's visit so
it's an exciting time to be developing the new programme here at the University.
I hope that by informing you now, it will help you to support any colleagues that you may have
working in your setting to gain the necessary qualifications to make an application for the Early
Years Teacher Status, Graduate Employment Based programme from September 2015 (subject to
NCTL funding). If you would like to find out more about progression routes to Early Years Teacher
Status or would like to be involved in developing the Early Years Teacher Status programme please
contact earlyyearseducation@canterbury.ac.uk.
Kind regards,
Denise Reardon
Programme Director for:
BA (H) Early Years Leadership
Early Years Teacher Status
Early Years Professional Status
Tel: 01634 894427
Mob: 07584055946
Email: denise.reardon@canterbury.ac.uk