In the context of an ongoing policy crisis in relation to the qualifications of the early childhood workforce in England, this paper first rehearses the context and long overdue need for reform before presenting a framework for career structure and professional early childhood education qualifications in England. This framework is designed to address difficulties of recruitment, retention, and progression, and thereby raise the status of qualifications and the roles they enable early years practitioners to undertake. The paper ends by reiterating the importance of qualifications for those working in early childhood education, what they need to study and how what they study equips them for their various roles.