Thanks for the balanced and important piece in The TES featuring our efforts to attract more men into the early years workforce (“Extra pay needed to coax more men into early years”, January 23).

The Children’s Workforce Development Council is committed to supporting the improvement of status, skills and qualifications across the early years workforce, for women and men alike.

There is no magic wand that will improve quickly overall terms and conditions, given that there are more than 140,000 paid staff working in the non-maintained sector, but we are committed to supporting employers to address this very important issue.

Thom Crabbe, National programme manager for early years, Children’s Workforce Development Council.