Training Today: A thorough grounding

Early years practitioners are enrolling on training courses to take them back to basics and equip them with the key tools they need to implement the Early Years Foundation Stage and facilitate child-led learning.

Last year it was the aim of local authorities, early years managers and training providers to ensure that everyone working in the sector had introductory EYFS training.

Since the launch of the new regime last September the focus has shifted to identifying and addressing the areas where practitioners' skills and confidence may be lacking.

Practitioners are following three main routes to enhance their knowledge and expertise in the EYFS: some are seeking to attain graduate or Early Years Professional Status as this path is financed by the Graduate Leader Fund; others are taking the new Level 3 Certificate in EYFS Practice offered by City & Guilds, CACHE and Edexcel for which registrations are increasing rapidly. But most, at this stage, appear to be cherry picking continuing professional development courses to address their specific requirements.

Feedback from practitioners successfully completing the CACHE certificate shows how they gain confidence by getting to grips with the changing roles and working practices required by the new regime.

The role of the nursery nurse has changed with the introduction of the EYFS and the sorts of courses and qualifications people are enrolling on reflects these changes, says Kate Sparling, training manager for Hempsall Consultancies.

'The job title nursery nurse is hardly used any more as it is seen as an old term. People are now called practitioners. There has been a huge shift in terms of the title and the job role.'

Ms Sparling believes there has been a marked increase in requirements to upskill because of the EYFS.

'The Children's Workforce Development Council is now responsible for defining qualifications that are acceptable for those delivering the EYFS,' she says. 'By 2015 the entire workforce may have to have a full and relevant Level 3 qualification.

'There is a huge amount of work being undertaken in settings and local authorities now, with settings conducting qualification audits on their staff to identify where they are and whether they need to improve. People are taking modules to upskill.'

The practical areas where many are now seeking to enhance their skills are outdoor play, keyworking, partnership with parents, reflective practice and completing the self-evaluation form for Ofsted inspections.

Six areas of learning

'Last year, local authorities were working to ensure that every single practitioner had at least an introductory course on the EYFS, and that has now been done,' says Laura Henry, managing director of Childcare Consultancy. 'Issues of practice can arise in settings where there is this mismatch between Level 3 practitioners and EYPs. We have provided generic EYFS training around the four themes, and the six areas of learning and development and outdoor learning.

'The latter is very topical as people who are accessing capital grant funding have to show the impact of their outdoor learning provision.

'The key person system is now mandatory. For many settings which already had key persons in place, the EYFS has reaffirmed their practice. For others this is a new development. Similarly, the emphasis in the EYFS on partnership working with parents is going to be a change for some.'

Ms Henry adds, 'Practitioners need to work on how they take the learning that is going on in a child's home life and transfer that back into the setting, and then plan for the child's next steps in learning.'

According to Tina Jefferies, managing director of Red Space Company, there is much more emphasis on people's knowledge and skills for working with the EYFS.

'People from the NNEB route will have the knowledge and experience necessary for the EYFS - they will have had the baby training, and other people with different qualifications might not have had that,' she says.

'If you have not taken a qualification that has child development at its core then I think you will find things like the social and emotional development element of EYFS challenging. I have been running training with a variety of practitioners and the range of knowledge is huge.

'If you are assessing an individual child against the developmental norms for that age and stage, and your observational, experiential, and theoretical knowledge is not thorough, then you are going to have some problems.'

At the Childcare Consultancy, the approach has been to advise local authorities to go back to basics and start with child development.

'We have done a programme of child development training for daycare providers, childminders, after-school providers and local authority teams,' says Ms Henry.

'The message we are getting across to practitioners and colleagues in the local authorities is that they must go back to basics and gain a thorough grounding in child development. I would not be 100 per cent certain of the depth there is on child development in a Level 3 qualification.

'Whatever the course, the first question is always on observation, assessment and planning. But you cannot observe, assess and plan for the next steps if you do not have a thorough grounding in child development, and you do not know what you are observing.'