Guide to: Early years qualifications from abroad

With Brexit approaching, knowing how to get overseas-trained people into staff:child ratios could be crucial, especially amid a recruitment crisis.

1. Can overseas staff work in my setting?

The UK has a national agency for the recognition of overseas qualifications, from inside the EU and everywhere else – UK NARIC. It offers a service for holders of international qualifications who are looking to work in the early years sector in England. The Early Years Service finds out if an applicant is qualified to work as a Level 3 Early Years Educator or a Level 2 Childcare Worker.

2. Who is NARIC for?

Anyone who has a qualification in early years education obtained overseas and wants to count in English staff:child ratios. For staff already working at an unqualified level, or those who assume they can’t practise, this service may also help them.

3. What’s the first step?

Go to www.naric.org.uk/earlyyears, read the information provided and create an online account. From there, users access NARIC’s online portal, where they can select the services they need, upload all their documentation and send messages about their application.

4. What documents are needed?

A final certificate and transcripts, confirmation of the age range covered by the qualifications, and details of the course content.

5. How does it work?

NARIC uses information provided by the training institution, in conjunction with our own research and data, to provide a value judgement on the coverage of the qualification.

NARIC also verifies that the issuing authority is appropriately accredited to issue the qualification in question.

If necessary, we will contact relevant national authorities, government agencies or ministries to verify the status of an issuing authority or institution. NARIC may also pursue checks on issuing authorities or institutions through the international ENIC-NARIC network of national recognition bodies.

The evaluation process takes 20 working days.

6. Can you give more detail about the process?

Early years education is studied differently overseas, sometimes as part of qualifications with a focus on nursing or psychology, for example. The Early Years Service is for those with qualifications that focus on education.

Qualifications must cover six key criteria including supporting and promoting development, effective care, assessments, safeguarding, and working in partnership.

Applicants receive a report that confirms how their qualifications map to the criteria and the next steps they need to take in order to be able to count within Level 2 or Level 3 staff:child ratios.

We can also provide comparisons for school qualifications, to help demonstrate that the DfE’s literary and numeracy requirements are satisfied.

When the qualifications meet all the criteria, the DfE will provide a letter to confirm that the individual can count within Level 3 ratios. The completed Early Years Service report contains signposting information to help with the process.

Where the qualifications only partially cover the requirements, NARIC provides information on how the individual can top up their skills in order to fulfil the missing criteria.

7. What happens if qualifications don’t meet UK requirements?

At present, EU professionals are treated in line with the EU Directive on the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications.

This Directive sets out the process for determining whether EU professionals should be permitted to practise in any other relevant European state unless there are substantial differences between their education, training or experience.

Where there are differences, the applicant may be asked to undertake ‘compensation measures’. This can mean taking units of study from UK courses or undertaking supervised practice, undertaken at an employer’s discretion, whereby they are certified as competent by a full and relevant Level 3 practitioner.

Awarding bodies in the UK have confirmed the availability of standalone units of study that individuals can take either as training and assessment or assessment only. Both methods are accepted by the DfE.

8. What about Level 2?

At present, if the Early Years Service report confirms that qualification(s) have a focus on early years, then that is enough for someone to work at Level 2, even if not all the Level 3 criteria have been met.

From September 2019, when specific Level 2 qualifications will be required to count within Level 2 ratios, UK NARIC will adapt the service to include the new criteria. Applicants will be given the choice of whether they want their qualification to be mapped to Level 2 or Level 3 criteria.

9. How did the service develop?

As the national agency, managed on behalf of the UK Government, under contract to the Department for Education, NARIC provides the only official source of information on international education and training systems and wide-ranging international qualifications and skills attained from outside the UK.

UK NARIC is part of the NARIC network. This is an initiative of the European Commission, created in 1984.

10. Will NARIC still be in place post-Brexit?

Yes. The UK is a signatory to the Lisbon Recognition Convention, and this sets out the requirement to have a national agency to perform the recognition function. The UK remains a signatory post-Brexit.

See www.naric.org.uk/earlyyears