The Level 3 workforce is shrinking at an ‘alarming’ rate, with the number of students finishing courses dropping by nearly a third in a year, Nursery World can exclusively reveal.
Analysis of full and relevant childcare courses completed across all awarding bodies shows 18,000 students finished courses between July and September 2014. One year on, this number dropped 30 per cent to 12,625.
The July-September period is significant because it’s when the majority of certifications are awarded for completed courses.
FACING FACTS
The figures are hard evidence of the impact of the first full year of Early Years Educator (EYE) qualifications, which were introduced in September 2014 to raise standards in the workforce. But the associated requirement for maths and English GCSE at grade C or above has been slammed by employers, with one large chain reporting vacancy levels for up to a sixth of their workforce (see table, page 6).
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