BBC News - Education:
Graduate nursery staff have 'little effect' on children
14 February 2017
Having a graduate teacher in a nursery has only a limited impact on children's attainment, new research suggests.
In England the government wants more graduate staff in nurseries in a bid to boost children's literacy and numeracy. But a study published by the London School of Economics (LSE) claims highly qualified staff had only a "tiny" effect on attainment. One early years group said the the report challenged "many of the assumptions" around current policy. The researchers, from the Centre for Economic Performance at LSE, Surrey University and University College London, looked at figures, drawn from the National Pupil Database, on about 1.8 million five-year-olds who started school in England between 2008 and 2011.