ABSTRACT
Early years services in the UK have, until recently, lacked any form of national financial support or policy direction. Until 1996 when the Conservative Government introduced a voucher scheme to pay for part-time nursery education places for 4-year-olds, the extent of provision was determined by the commitment of individual local authorities or the purchasing power of parents. This led to patchy provision in which some areas had maintained neither nursery education nor any social services day nurseries at all, while others, such as Manchester, had a strong tradition of both. Equally, voluntary sector provision was dependent on the willingness of local councils to subsidise its costs and support training and advisory services for its staff. Both the voluntary sector and the growing full-time day care sector in child-minding and private day nurseries were dependent on demand and the ability of parents to pay. This structural diversity was always reflected in the profile of the various workforces, with the statutory services employing ‘professional’ teachers and nursery nurses (even if they were unequal in status) and the voluntary and independent sector developing their own training and qualifications to meet the needs and characteristics of their own practitioners.
