I want them to leave us with the ability to make sense of these changes, rather than facing them for the first time once they are already in post. Building that professional curiosity is something I work at deliberately across the programme, alongside the knowledge base students need to understand the wider factors that will influence their professional lives.

Our students will be back with us in the new academic year, and once the semester starts, we’ll all welcome the opportunity to reflect properly on whatever proposals for the sector have emerged by then. That conversation will include our own ambitions for early years, the challenges students have already seen for themselves in practice, and how far we think policy makers currently understand those challenges. 

Out of that discussion, our early childhood studies students will be writing to Lucy Powell directly, setting out what we believe the sector needs from her department. Conversations like these are exactly what builds the professional curiosity I want our students to carry into their careers, and they align closely with UCB's Learning and Teaching Strategy, which is built around industry-led, career-focused learning that prepares students to contribute meaningfully to their sector once they leave us.