EDT joins conversation on the next steps for early childhood education in England at the Westminster Education Forum

Tony spoke about the importance of mobilising research and evidence about what works in ECE through high-impact professional development. Drawing on evidence from the Early Years Professional Development Programme (EYPDP), Tony emphasised that, without a well-informed and self-confident workforce, simply increasing access to education for young children will not lead to better outcomes. 

“The key message from us is the need to take seriously the professional learning of early years educators if we want to improve quality outcomes.” 

Tony McAleavy, Education Director at EDT 

Tony outlined the key policy levers necessary for improving outcomes for children from birth to five years, including better pay, structured career progression, parity of esteem with professionals in later education phases, smarter accountability, and – crucially – access to high-impact professional learning.  

"We need all these things, but I want to emphasise access to high-impact professional learning, particularly CPD." 

Tony McAleavy, Education Director at EDT 

With the current EYPDP contract concluding in early 2025, Tony identified the need to codify the lessons learned to inform future priorities for the sector. He stressed the need to move beyond viewing ECE as simply support for working parents, and recognise it as vital for high-quality education. 

Tony is also the host of our Brighter Futures podcast, and recently led an episode on improving early years education for all with Busy Bees Nurseries’ Gill Jones MBE, ECE consultant Jan Dubiel, and EDT’s Programme Director of the EYPDP Lyn Challender. The episode covers: 

• the strengths found in early years education, and priority areas for improving it 

• whether we have consensus on what matters most in this age range 

• the value that should be placed on that which we cannot quantify 

• inequities in the access to enriching early learning experiences. 

“From birth up to the age of five and beyond is one of the most rapid growth periods of development of the mind. I’ll admit that I didn't know enough about that when I was on the ground, educating children, and I think that's one of the problems that we face in the sector.” 

Gill Jones MBE, Group Chief Quality Officer & Safeguarding Lead at Busy Bees Nurseries & ex-Ofsted, speaking on the Brighter Futures podcast 

“In terms of areas for development, the key word is quality. Volume of child care is not the answer if we don’t have good quality.” 

Lyn Challender, Programme Director of the EYPDP at EDT, speaking on the Brighter Futures podcast 

Listen to the podcast episode on improving early years education for all here. 

Find out more about the Early Years Professional Development Programme.