Senior lecturers Dr. Carla Solvason, Samantha Sutton-Tsang and Niki Stobbs from the Department for Children and Families met with Robin Walker, MP on Friday 21st April to discuss a research report they had written about the wellbeing of early years practitioners and teachers.
The report focussed particularly on the impact of Covid-19 on practitioners’ well-being and found that although early years practitioners are dedicated to the children that they educate and care for, they feel unappreciated by the government and the general public, which is resulting in them leaving the sector in large numbers.
Robin Walker was very interested in the findings, taking time to try to understand the issues and propose solutions. He stated that early childhood education was high on the government’s agenda, as indicated by the inclusion of childcare as key infrastructure in the latest budget. He also reported that he was involved in a number of working parties and committees to find ways to attract more people to become early childhood professionals.
More details of the meeting and the research can be found by contacting the authors. (c.solvason@worc.ac.uk, s.sutton-tsang@worc.ac.uk or n.stobbs@worc.ac.uk)
You can read the University of Worcester blog here too: https://uwstaffnews.wordpress.com/2023/04/25/supporting-the-health-and-wellbeing-of-education-and-care-practitioners/