I had the committee members checked by the Criminal Records Bureau, so now they think that because they have clearance they are qualified to come into the playgroup and interfere.
I have insisted that the playgroup has trained staff and not parent helpers to make up the staff:child ratio. But the way the committee worked in the past was with unqualified assistants who knew very little about childcare, only wanted pocket money and did not interact with the children, while committee members filled in at the playgroup when needed. The problems I have had at meetings to get the committee to understand have been harder work than educating the children.
Ofsted does not allow unqualified staff to run a childcare setting, so why does it allow an unqualified committee to run the staff? Committees should either be consigned to the past or else trained and qualified. Ofsted should make the training of committee members a standard regulation, because at the end of the day committees employ us. Yet our decisions are overridden by parents who appear to know nothing about childcare.
I have 16 years of childcare experience in playgroups as a playgroup leader, have a full daycare registration and run playschemes. I also have NVQs 2, 3 and 4 in early years and education, management qualification, business in early years, and am just completing my A1 and A2 assessor's award, among other qualifications. I am now in process of setting up my own pre-school - without a committee.
Joanne Monnox Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
