An education group’s been told to back up its claim that the quality of care and education could improve when government funded pre-schools are transferred into the private sector.

The Manx Early Years Alliance believes private nurseries offer a better service than state run units, helped by a smaller child-staff ratio with more monitoring and age-specific activities.

Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Andrew Shipley, disagrees and says such comments denigrate the skills of trained teachers in public facilities.