Depressed about Childcare Reforms Crap!

I think it's appalling the way Liz Truss has handled just the publication of her proposals, never mind the content!

She's drip-fed to the media for months - little hints and snippets of what could be included - and, even now, we have no concrete information on how she intends to implement her ideas because she doesn't know

She seems to have launched herself on a Grand Tour of Europe, written loads of articles for magazines and newspapers (for which she is paid!!), ignored the British experts and practitioners alike because they nearly all disagree with her, and tweaked her ideas here and there to try and placate the parents.

The result is that no-one really knows for sure what's going on, the vast majority hate what they've heard so far, and we're all worried and concerned at how her proposals will affect children and workers.

It is depressing. I can't help feeling that OFSTED/government would really rather see all babies and youngsters in huge and very similar nursery settings as that makes it so much easier for them to regulate. They increased the burden of bureaucracy with the introduction of EYFS and childminders gave up in droves. Some of us stuck at it and put a lot of time and effort into training and putting in place new systems to meet all the new requirements, so they went and changed it all about with the new-and-supposedly-simpler EYFS last September. Before that is even bedded in properly they are proposing to more changes to the requirements and the introduction of Agencies. All this change is hard to take on board when you are the sole proprietor of a business, and most of us have family's needs to meet too. It's no wonder so many are talking about giving it up - if that isn't the intention then government must be very lacking in imagination not to anticipate that as a consequence. I don't think they are at all bothered about sustainable childminding businesses or about parental choice. We desperately need more parents to be making their voices heard - it's all very well childcarers objecting but that can simply be dismissed as self interest. Parents need to demonstrate to politicians that this is a vote-losing issue.

i plan on giving up later this year when youngest ds starts school . am doing no more training . have no idea what this is all about but can't wait to be out of it!! feel being a cm is vastly undervalued and tbh pretty thankless

It worries me when I think about it. So I don't. I intend to be out of CM by 2014 if I can.

Hoping to become a TA (I can dream can't I?)

I'm not fully up to date with what is going on as it's my last day a month tomorrow. I had planned on keeping my registration going just in case I decide to go back to it after my maternity leave but the more and more I hear, the more I think I'll just have to do something else.

I do feel for you all as I'd usually be the same as you and especially if I'd gone through re-registering :(

Yes I am too. I am worried about the future of childminding and what the proposals will do to our sustainability. I feel it is very unfair that we have only been provided with scanty details of how agencies will operate - as they are going to be trialled in September with a view to being operational in 2014 - surely such information is known by some!