Nursery Management: Training - Will changes raise skills?

Experienced and skilled early years practitioners could be lost to the sector because of the Government's campaign for childcare staff to be qualified to at least Level 3, according to leading nursery managers.

While they support the vision of raising the calibre and professionalism of the workforce, they also express doubts about how it will work out in practice, because they believe non-academic but talented staff could give up and leave.

A particular bugbear is the new Level 3 Children and Young People's Workforce Diploma, which is being developed by the Children's Workforce Development Council to become the sole Level 3 qualification.

The current CACHE and Edexcel childcare diplomas are equivalent to three A levels, but the new award has only 475 guided learning hours and there are concerns that it could carry a lower equivalence. Final details of the values the award will carry have still to be confirmed.

Carol Jenkins, managing director of Places for Children, says, 'I believe the move to one Level 3 qualification will inevitably lead to a lowering in standards. My view is the current Level 3 falls below the standards attributed to the older style NNEB.'

Her view is echoed by Tom Shea, director of the Child First Nursery chain. He says, 'The quality of qualifications and training seems to have been dumbed down over the past few years. I recently led some training on basic phonics, with people who were all Level 3, looking at the beginnings of speech and fairly fundamental points, and they were sitting openmouthed. It was all new to them. It has always concerned me that the quality we need to provide for the youngest children at the most potentially beneficial stage of 0-4 is served by a group of qualifications that are not up to the standards to make the practitioners free thinkers themselves or for them to enable the children to be free thinkers too.'

Mr Shea adds, 'We have working with us at the moment an Italian pedagogue who has been training for seven years. In this country it takes you seven years' training to look after an animal as a vet, but it takes 18 months' training to look after children as an NVQ Level 3.'

Stella Ziolkowski, director of quality and workforce development at the National Day Nurseries Association, says robust assessment methodologies will need to be developed to ensure the new Level 3 is sufficiently testing. Tutors will also need support to bring them up to speed on current initiatives to ensure the content of the course is relevant.

Ms Ziolkowski warns that major side effects such as the impact of increased staff pay and nursery costs should not be overlooked.

A majority of NDNA members had more than three-quarters of staff already at Level 3 or above, according to statistics from its e-Quality Counts scheme, but she says, 'Getting all staff to Level 3 would be a huge undertaking for day nurseries, and would require significant investment to cover the costs of training and staff.'

Concern over loss of skilled childminders

A key concern is what happens to staff on the lower rungs of the career ladder. Sarah Hill, proprietor of Nelly's Nurseries in south London, says, 'I fully understand the requirement that everybody has to be a Level 3, but it does not take account of what people want to do with their careers. I have someone working for me who was a childminder for 25 years. She is now aged 55 and works part-time.

'She is amazingly good but does not want to embark on an NVQ 3. She would be nearing retirement by the time she completed it. Her experience is invaluable and it is all too rare in a nursery these days.'

Ms Jenkins says anything that upskills the sector has to be a positive, but adds, 'We will inevitably lose some good people. Not everyone wishes to pursue an academic route and if we remove an entry level that allows for a more vocational route then we will stand to lose people who potentially could go on to deliver good outcomes for children but who need extra support, experience and maturity prior to Level 3 entry.'

Meanwhile, Mr Shea suggests managers should consider ignoring the Level 3 requirement if necessary. 'Sometimes there are elements of the law you have to ignore. If there are people who work brilliantly with the children, I wouldn't give a damn about what Ofsted or anyone else says about their qualifications. The key is about appropriateness.'

As childcare is a demanding, hands-on job, nurseries need to maintain a diverse workforce with a balance of ages, qualifications and experience, says Ms Ziolkowski. But to do that and raise quality, managers need to invest in training for all staff at all levels. 'The NDNA believes there must be mechanisms to measure vocational skills and qualifications for those to whom the academic route may not be open,' she says.

Although there is support for the development of the role of Early Years Professional, the initiative raises concerns not just about how a sector operating on tight margins can pay graduates properly, but also about the stress of juggling work and study.

Mr Shea says, 'Children absolutely need people who understand what pedagogy is all about. The dilemma is you can aim to get more graduates into childcare, but in a sector where the average salary is about £11,000 that is not a graduate salary.

'With EYPS the principle is right, but is the quality for the course right? I suspect not. But it is something you could work on.

'However, the reality is how we are going to attract graduates who are committed to working with the youngest children without paying them a graduate salary? It would double or treble the wages bill.'

Three out of eight staff at the Little Pines Day Nursery in Bournemouth, including the proprietor Pam Jones, are already EYPs and two more have taken foundation degrees and are en route to achieving the status. So by 2011, five of them will be accredited.

'They have done it because they want to develop and extend themselves,' says Ms Jones. 'I am lucky they are all so keen to keep on training and studying. From my point of view, it is fantastic. When we interview staff, one of the points we look for is people's interest and enthusiasm for further training and development.

'My deputy dropped a day to study and has just completed her foundation degree and is going straight into an honours degree incorporating EYPS. When she goes on the honours course she should think about dropping a second day because it is a full time course for 15 months. There is a lot of working out to do to assess finances. She has a mortgage to pay, although she does qualify for some funding for loss of wages.'

Nurseries that have an enthusiastic staff, such as Nelly's, face problems in maintaining ratios while people take study leave or work shorter days to attend university. 'The problem facing nurseries like ours is that so many people want to take degrees and become EYPs,' says Ms Hill.

'But we are not in a position to have everyone studying at once. It is a dilemma because if I have ten people qualified to degree level, taking foundation degrees and going on to EYPS, I can't pay ten salaries at that rate unless something gives and the Government puts in more funding.'

Apart from the issue of salary, says Ms Hill, there would not be appropriately senior roles for ten EYPs.

'It is really difficult,' she says. 'I am committed to training and want to develop people, but I can't encourage them all.'

Alternative kinds of qualification

Ms Hill believes that what is missing is a leadership and management qualification for room leaders who perhaps do not want to go down the curriculum development/EYP route, but do want to develop their people skills and leadership skills.

She says, 'There are some people who will never become an EYP. To take a degree and attain EYPS takes about seven to eight years if you are doing it part-time and working, which is a very long time. I think EYPS will bypass a big chunk of the workforce, but a leadership qualification would be something that is more achievable in the medium term.

'I became an EYP on the short pathway and I have just completed a masters degree, but that pushed me to the limit. I think if people find it all too stressful they will end up walking away from the sector.'

Even though Ms Jones, a former teacher, has reached the top tier of early years qualifications, she argues that experience must still be valued.

'Years of experience should not be discounted because somebody turns up after just a year's study with a degree and a qualification in their hand,' she says.

CASE STUDY: BRINGING STAFF TOGETHER TO TRAIN

Sam McIntosh, training and development manager at nursery provider Caring Daycare, says, 'We assess training needs in different ways. Through staff appraisals every six months, we look at the personal and professional needs of the team.

'We use a formative assessment system to measure the quality of the children's holistic experience in the nurseries and can assess the training needs of each particular nursery.

'We also participate in the quality assurance scheme in Surrey and that highlights training needs.

'We look at the assessment and appraisals and put in place training packages to address individuals, nurseries or the whole staff if a common theme arises. This is aside from mandatory issues such as vetting and barring.

'When we have found a common theme we bring everybody from all our nurseries together for an event with an outside trainer. We close the nurseries for the afternoon. It is like an inset day at school. It becomes a team-building experience linked to our ethos and the way we want to develop individuals.

'Our two most recent group events focused on music and language respectively. Because all the staff have been together at these events they support and bounce ideas off one another to develop things further.

'Beforehand, I work with the trainer talking about what our needs are and the resources she would use to deliver the training, so when the team arrives there is a big box of resources waiting for them.

'If you go on a course and it takes a couple of months to collect resources before you can share that experience, you lose momentum.

'By giving them brand new resources on the day, they want to start putting it all into practice straight away.'

CASE STUDY: INVESTING IN RIGOROUS INDUCTION

Jennie Johnson, chief executive of the Kids Allowed chain, says, 'We have redefined the upfront training we provide before new team members join their centres.

'It is a very costly decision and challenging. You are always under pressure in a nursery to make sure you have enough staff, but we have decided that before anybody starts work they must have been through our induction training.

'From this March, we are expanding the induction course from one to three full days.

'In the past they would start and then go on the next induction course, but we recognise that we do things differently and people are now getting a full induction in the Kids Allowed way and are buddying up with other starters rather than being chucked in the deep end.

'It gives me the opportunity to meet and speak with every new person who joins the company, because I take the opening hour of the induction course.

'We have a clear company view that we want to be the very best and that means the team has to be empowered. We encourage team members to try out their ideas, share their successes and be honest about the things that do not work so well.'

The induction course introduces new staff to the company's ethos and ways of working.

It covers administrative matters such as booking holidays, includes team-building exercises, and encourages people to think positively about themselves and be more confident.

It covers basic practical skills such as changing a nappy properly, making up a bottle and hand-washing.

There are also activities covering risk assessments and health and safety. For example, there will be a mock-up of part of a nursery room set out with a range of toys, including some with broken bits, and the staff assess what is acceptable and unacceptable for a given age group.

Ms Johnson adds, 'There is a big emphasis on training generally, with courses running during the day, evenings and weekends, and staff get paid to attend. In the first year of working for the company, a practitioner would be able to attend 25 days of training.'

IN A NUTSHELL: EYPS, IQF AND LEVEL 3

EYPS: The Government's aim is for there to be an EYP post in every children's centre by 2010 and in every full daycare setting by 2015. By the end of last year, 4,051 people had achieved EYPS and a further 3,817 candidates were on training pathways.

IQF: The Integrated Qualifications Framework, which is to be launched this April, will act as a practical, easy-to-access guide to sector-approved qualifications for everyone working with children and young people. The aim is to help develop a more integrated workforce.

LEVEL 3: The Government wants all early years practitioners to hold at least a Level 3 qualification by 2015. The CWDC is developing a Level 3 Children and Young People's Workforce Diploma, to be launched in September 2010. The intention is that it will become the only Level 3 qualification for the children's workforce. However, colleges will be able to delay starting to teach the new award until 2011 and will be able to continue to offer to full-time students aged 16 to 19 the existing CACHE and Edexcel Level 3 diplomas on courses that begin before that date.