A lack of funding for free nursery education will lead to an increase in the number of under-qualified individuals in early years teaching jobs, a leading union has warned.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has claimed that the government has failed to provide adequate funds to support its extension of free nursery education for three-to-four-year olds.

Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT, criticised the coalition for "simply expecting teachers to work for longer".

"Early years teachers were simply expected to work longer, even when they taught two separate groups of children during the day," she said.

"This meant that many had few or no breaks and no time to do any of their other essential duties, such as talk to parents and children."

Ms Blower expressed her concern that a recent reduction in funding for early year's services would have a negative impact on the quality of teaching and learning for children.

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