Nursery Management: Staff - Let's keep our talent

The viability - and desirability - of graduates as practice leaders has been the subject of much debate since Early Years Professional Status was first rolled out in 2006.

Now this year the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) has also unveiled the development of a new level 3 qualification, which is designed to supersede all others, and stated its aim to raise all practitioners to level 3 by 2015.

As if that wasn't enough, PVI settings are having to grapple with the complex relationship between funding and qualifications, not least with respect to the quality incentive of the free entitlement.

It's hardly surprising that many in this sector now feel that government interference in their choice of employees has gone far enough. They want to be able to exercise their own judgement in employing individuals who they believe will result in the best outcomes for children.

Need for new blood

Rachel Hill, manager of Altofts Private Day Nursery in West Yorkshire, is one who does not support the move for all practitioners to be at level 3.

'Personally, I feel you need a balance. The majority of my staff are at level 3 or working towards it, but at the same time it's great for parents to see staff who are grandparents working in a nursery,' she says.

'We need a skills mix of young, newly qualified staff and older members who can bring life skills and experience. Having a mix of individuals also helps with the practicalities of flexibility and staff cover.'

At Little Angels Nursery and Fun Club in Northumberland, owner Deborah Wylie emphasises that it is not the qualification that makes a good practitioner. 'Having said that, there is an acknowledgement that if you are in early years and you are good or have potential, then you will accept that you need to undertake an element of training - and there are many routes to this now,' she says.

'Settings have always had the opportunity of taking on volunteers or trainees. This ensures new blood feeds through into the workforce. I would take on whichever staff I feel offer the best potential care to the children in my nursery - and it is not always those at level 3 who have provided the best care in the past.'

'If there are excellent practitioners who do not yet have a level 3 qualification, it is about time that we as managers were able to support them to access the most appropriate course,' Deborah Wylie adds.

On the subject of level 3, Janet Elnaugh, director of Phoenix Day Nursery in Essex, says that all her staff are at level 3 and she does not employ anyone who does not have a qualification.

'It all comes back to underpinning knowledge. In order to plan, observe and assess it is absolutely vital,' she says. 'There is also the fact that all members of the team have to be working at the same baseline level so that they can understand and support each other.'

However, Ms Elnaugh has been in a position to bring unqualified people through the system where she thinks there is genuine talent.

'I took on an apprentice who was not an employee and she completed her levels 2 and 3 in 18 months, and is now a full-time employee. She was paid the minimum wage but gained funding from her college, and she has turned out to be a fantastic practitioner.'

Marcelle Kite, manager of Halesfield Day Nursery in Telford, also believes there should be room for the development of unqualified staff.

'We have a history of recruiting the more mature person with life and family skills and putting them through appropriate training and qualifications. If these people did not count in the ratios until they achieved a level 3 qualification, it would not be financially viable. I fear it might lead to the profession excluding older workers, which would be an extremely poor outcome for children.'

Marcelle Kite says a bigger concern is the robustness of current awards. 'The target-driven culture of the NVQ business, which places achievement of numbers above quality, seems to be resulting in some very poorly qualified staff.'

Deborah Wylie corroborates her view. 'I suspect linking qualifications to funding will be the most effective way of getting staff to be more qualified but, until the qualifications are more rigorous, it will not necessarily improve quality for children,' she says.

Relieving EYP pressure

According to Janet Elnaugh, graduate leadership ignores a vast strata of the workforce stuck in the middle.

'Lots of practitioners have a lot of experience but are not in a position to study for a degree,' she says. 'For me, now it is very difficult to think about going back to study for three years part-time. At the same time, if I employ an EYP with an unrelated degree I am not convinced they are a better practitioner than I am.'

But the quality incentives linked to the Single Funding Formula are making graduates a pertinent issue.

'We may be forced down the road of employing a physics graduate just to remain sustainable,' she says. 'My own setting is outstanding and costs a lot to maintain. If my funding were cut I'd have to find a graduate quickly.'

Ms Elnaugh doesn't believe the workforce is being listened to properly. 'What is going to happen to people with years of experience? I doubt very much that by 2015 there will be enough people with EYPS to meet the targets,' she says. 'I have a member of staff who is currently studying for a foundation degree and she will go on to do EYPS. Two days of her working week are now taken up with studying and the funding from our local authority just about provides for her cover and travel expenses. We have no idea how we will pay her more when she qualifies.'

Halesfield Day Nursery currently has a graduate manager with EYPS. Marcelle Kite says, 'Although we supplement her salary with a £3,000 boost through the Graduate Leader Fund, this still does not equate to the salary available locally to managers employed by the local authority - they are offering some £6,000 more per annum than we are able to.'

Little Angels employs two EYPs across its two sites and has another two members of staff working towards the status. Deborah Wylie says she undertook it herself to broaden her own understanding of the qualification's process and quality.

However, she believes the accreditation process is essentially flawed. 'It allows candidates who are good at passing qualifications to become EYPs,' she says. 'They are not necessarily skilled in interacting or being emotionally intelligent with other practitioners and their children, which are essential characteristics in developing good leaders.'

Free will a must

At Altofts Day Nursery, one practitioner is about to embark on EYPS, but Rachel Hill strongly believes that staff - including managers - should not be pressured into taking it.

'There has to be respect for longstanding, wonderful members of staff who choose not to pursue it,' she says. 'Continuing professional development can do a valuable job. Managers need to be strong and look at the needs of their nursery first.'

While workforce developments are considered in the main positive, few would disagree that more attention needs to be given to funding.

Marcelle Kite says, 'We have the Graduate Leader Fund to pay for the development of staff to degree level and for study release time - but if it costs more, then it is just hard luck. Also, with many staff paying level 3 practitioners little more than the minimum wage, at some point a large number of people are going to decide that the supermarket checkout not only pays more but also allows you to have a life without mounds of paperwork outside work hours.

'I think early years could do with a short rest from new developments to allow us to draw breath. Keeping track of them all is a little time-consuming; with what little time we have left, we work with the children.'

At the same time, Deborah Wylie continues to question the commitment to graduates. 'The EPPE project reported on the quality of settings being vastly better when they had a graduate leading them - but the graduates at this time of the report were predominantly from an education background, mostly teaching, and that surely contributed to a higher standard of leadership that was evident in those settings.'

However, Rachel Hill feels workforce reform is taking things in the right direction. 'I think the days are disappearing where childcare is now only an option for teenagers who have no other career choice,' she says.

'There's more emphasis on the fact that it is a hard job with a lot of reward. It is recognised as more of a profession and a career. The best staff are not in it for the money - but because of the love of children.'