A spokesperson for the Children's Workforce Development Council confirmed that 550 candidates are in the current intake of EYPs expected to gain accreditation in January. The initial CWDC target was 600.
Ian Barron, head of early years and childhood studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, said he anticipated that 48 students would become the university's first EYPs in January. They have followed the fastest route, the validation or assessment-only pathway, which takes three months part-time. This included a needs assessment, five sets of written tasks and a visit to each candidate's setting.
Mr Barron told Nursery World, 'We are carrying out the final visits to settings and the first set of candidates will be completed by the end of next week.'
However, they will not find out if they have been successful until the end of January, when recommendations are made to the education secretary who officially confers EYP status.
At Kingston University, setting visits for 42 candidates on the validation pathway start this week and run until mid-December.
Anne Rawlings, principal lecturer in early years at the school of education, said, 'The setting visit is where candidates demonstrate they are working to the standards. It's about how they can lead and manage in the Foundation Stage in all aspects of work in the setting.' She added, 'I've been really pleased and heartened with how enthusiastic the candidates have been.'
Kingston's current EYP intake includes 14 candidates from maintained settings attached to schools; five from children's centres and family centres; 14 nursery owners and managers from the PVI sector; and several local authority early years advisors.
Ms Rawlings said the majority of places had been filled for the January course. She said, 'We have a very big foundation degree and a lot of students can go straight on to EYPS.'
For details of the 35 providers running the second phase of EYP training and assessment see www.cwdcouncil.org.uk.
