Editor letter

Welcome to the Summer 2004 edition of Training Today. There have been a few changes and additions this time round.For the first time we have included eight pages of Foundation Degree courses for early years professionals wanting to further their careers. These range from topics such as Early Childhood Studies and Teaching and Learning Support to Early Years Senior Practitioner and Professional Development for Classroom Assistants. Most of these courses begin from this September and there is still time to enrol at the various colleges and universities mentioned. There has been growing confusion among early years professionals who qualified before the introduction of the Children Act 1989 over the Government's introduction last year of the APEL (Accreditation of Prior Experience in Learning) scheme to 'fast track' experienced practitioners to a Level 3 qualification. Many have expressed concerns that their NNEB has effectively been downgraded to a Level 2 qualification as a result. We seek to discover if there is any factual basis to these concerns.