Management Focus - For play's sake
Karen Faux
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Managers in playwork can develop their workforce and fill the skills gaps with the help of a new guide. Karen Faux reports.
In response to popular demand, SkillsActive has launched an online guide to workforce planning in playwork.
It says that everyone responsible for a paid or volunteer workforce will benefit from devising a workforce development plan, which gets the most from people and understands how skills, qualifications and experience can be mapped to job roles for the benefit of the business.
The online guide, which is free to members, covers six stages to creating a workforce development plan and provides a range of resources. These include guidance on writing job descriptions based on national occupational standards - thus ensuring the right staff are recruited for the right positions, guidance on person specifications and advertising agencies, information on recruitment and retention, and a suggested reading list for staff continuing professional development.
Under a Pathways to Playwork section, the guide provides an up-to-date list of endorsed training for individuals. Users can access more information about CPD and qualifications, such as what the various levels represent and recommended trainers who have signed up to the code of practice which underpins the ethics of how to operate in the playwork sector.
Camilla Palmer, senior programme manager at the playwork team for SkillsActive, says the guide comes in response to work done at a regional level and the findings of its latest sector survey.
'With regard to the current workforce, about six in ten said they had a skills gap,' she says. 'The most common skill lacking was cited as knowledge of playwork values and principles.'
Employers will welcome this guide as a complement to the introduction of the new Level 2 and 3 Diplomas in Playwork (see NW news, 13 January), which includes two mandatory units from the new Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce.
Ms Palmer says, 'Qualifications and endorsed training are a key element of CPD, and our new qualifications give an added bonus in that learners can undertake them in bite-sized chunks, making it easier for those who may not have a great deal of confidence in their ability to learn, such as those returning to work after a significant break.
'The guide itself will enable employers to find out about the new qualifications and encourage the uptake of individual units before moving on to a full qualification.'
Ms Palmer emphasises that by incorporating playwork skills into work practices, it is possible to offer a complete service to children and parents, giving them varied opportunities and playing for play's sake. 'SkillsActive strongly recommends that employers pick training providers and courses endorsed through our quality assurance scheme and contact regional managers for more information,' she says.
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