Recruitment: Part 4 - Higher purpose

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It is clear that recruiting graduates into the PVI sector remains very challenging,’ wrote children and families minister Nadhim Zahawi in a letter to the Education Select Committee in July. While many settings would like to employ more highly qualified staff, providing the salary and career progression opportunities that graduates are looking for remains a problem.

Ceeda data shows that 74 per cent of early years staff who are thinking of leaving their jobs say they are driven by a desire for more challenges, 71 per cent by limited opportunities to progress and 64 per cent because they are unhappy with pay and benefits. While those figures are taken from all staff, not just those at a higher level, a Save the Children survey conducted in collaboration with Nursery World found that 79 per cent of managers without an Early Years Teacher cited salary costs as a barrier, followed by training costs (39 per cent) and a lack of interest among staff to get the qualification (35 per cent).

‘This is all against a backdrop of reducing resources,’ says Liz Bayram, chief executive at Pacey, which joined with Voice to research issues affecting Early Years Teachers earlier this year. ‘Currently the free entitlement is not covering the cost of delivering quality care so settings may want to employ a graduate but they simply can’t afford to.’

With many settings finding it difficult to offer graduate-level jobs, those looking to recruit and retain graduate staff should have an open field. However, the pool of specialist graduates is diminishing, with the number of students starting early years initial teacher training continuing to fall – only 595 enrolled last year, 25 fewer than last year and well short of the Government’s target of 2,400.

‘The qualified workforce is starting to disappear,’ says Ms Bayram. ‘There is a cohort of graduates in their 50s, but they will not be there forever. The number of opportunities may be reducing, but also the number who have the qualifications.’

Settings have to compete against schools for graduate employees. Pacey’s research found most current EYT students (70 per cent) said they wanted to work in an independent school and 65 per cent in an academy, with less than half (47 per cent) considering a PVI day nursery.

‘There are opportunities for career progression in our company, but where we lose teachers is when they want to work in schools,’ says Clare Roberts, chief executive of nursery group Kids Planet. ‘Not everyone wants to be a manager, and they know that at a school they will get better holidays and salaries.’

The Government recently reneged on its commitment to explore a scheme to increase the number of graduates working in early years settings in disadvantaged areas. Pacey is calling on the Government to reinstate the target that every setting in England should benefit from graduate leadership, starting with the most disadvantaged areas; replace EYTS with a new early years specialist route to QTS; and provide sustainable funding, allowing settings to employ at least one graduate.

‘The Government withdrew the grant given to settings that employed Early Years Professionals or Early Years Teachers, which allowed them to offer a marginally higher rate of pay,’ says Suffolk-based Early Years Teacher Mel Hieatt. ‘I was exceptionally lucky that my previous setting honoured my hourly rate even after the funding was pulled. Ultimately though, settings and providers have to choose the most financially viable path; which would be employing two lesser-qualified staff for the price of one Level 6.’

While funding for training is less available than in the past, particularly at a local authority level, many settings are not aware of funding that is available to support graduate qualifications, according to Pacey. For example, employers are able to claim £7,000 to contribute to costs incurred while an employee is training to become an Early Years Teacher, such as salary enhancements and supply cover.

CURRENT TALENT

Settings can also do more to support current staff to become graduates, releasing staff for training and ensuring they can provide appropriate mentors for student placements, as many are unclear about the standards the students need to meet.

‘There are choices settings can make on where their funds go, but they are really hard choices, and they should not be put in that position,’ says Ms Bayram.

Some nursery groups are able to grow their own higher-level staff rather than recruiting externally. Kids Planet employs 83 graduates across the nursery group. ‘When Kids Planet started, we decided to employ an Early Years Professional or Early Years Teacher in every setting because we believe higher-qualified staff are able to deliver a high quality of care,’ says Ms Roberts. ‘We do pay higher for graduates.’

The group has developed its own training academy for apprentices and is looking at what needs to be done to grow its own higher-level staff. ‘We are able to help them gain QTS as one of our directors is able to do the assessments,’ she says. ‘However, that is very time-consuming, and she can’t take on too many.’

Kids Planet is currently looking at making its academy a satellite provider to universities, allowing it to deliver Early Years Teacher training from its offices.

Giving higher-level staff opportunities to progress their careers and continue their professional development is vital. ‘There seems to be an unspoken assumption that Level 6/EYTs don’t ‘need’ any more training as they have done everything,’ says Ms Hieatt. ‘I would need to pay for my own training if I wanted to take a different route, such as becoming an assessor or an early years trainer, as the majority of early years organisations wouldn’t be able to afford to train me and wouldn’t even consider it, if it’s of no benefit to them.’

Providing more challenges for higher-level staff can be tricky for single settings. Coming together to create a lead practitioner network or similar, with joint CPD and sharing of expertise, could help. There may also be opportunities for employees to develop skills in specialist areas. In July, CACHE published a career progression map for the early years sector, which suggests roles such as SENCo, SEND lead, physical activity and nutrition co-ordinator (PANCo), and literacy or maths lead, as well as specialisms in particular pedagogical approaches.

Groups such as Children 1st, which has grown some apprentices into current managers, find it easier to offer a more varied career path. ‘We are able to offer opportunities for career progression with roles that are not just looking after children, although of course that is the most important thing,’ says Cathy Griffin, director at Children 1st. ‘For example, we have a constant programme of refurbishment across out settings so we have staff who will go in and support them with new equipment – there are different career paths that can be taken.’

CASE STUDY: Seymour House, Essex

Higher-level staff have double the opportunity for progression at nursery chain Seymour House. Each setting employs both a nursery manager and a head of early years practice, and most were appointed internally.

‘The head of early years practice needs to be degree-educated,’ says Pippa Drew, group HR director. ‘Some of the nursery managers are graduates and some are not – not having a degree is not a blocker if someone wants to make it to management.’

This dual pathway allows settings to retain staff with a range of skills. ’Most people have a natural skillset: some will be more naturally skilled at business, admin and management, while others will lean more to the care and education side,’ says Ms Drew. ‘Both roles are equally responsible, but the head of early years practice takes the lead in educational practice and team development, while the manager will take the lead on occupancy, fees and those sort of tasks.’

This year Seymour House has focused particularly on the recruitment of graduates for Early Years Initial Teacher Training (EYITT) roles. ’We had a couple of graduate intake days, as they do in other sectors,’ says Ms Drew. ‘We had a good response: a pool of 30 applicants from which we recruited ten, and now we have someone undergoing EYITT in each nursery for the first time.’

Not all of those recruited stay with the group after they have qualified. ’We tend to lose some after a year or two of completing the EYITT course,’ says Ms Drew. ‘We recognise that if we train teachers and they go on somewhere else, that is not a bad thing for the sector as a whole. But as with all our team we put a lot of effort into seeing what other opportunities we can provide them with to continue to develop their skills and knowledge.’

Improved communication is one strategy. Seymour House has adopted internal comms software TalkFreely, which has aided information sharing across the group. ‘Retention is better as more people are aware of practice and opportunities [across our] nurseries; that has made a big difference to engagement,’ says Ms Drew.

IN BRIEF...

Recruitment and retention of higher-level staff is particularly affected by salary and training costs and career progression opportunities.

Fewer graduates are becoming Early Years Teachers and those who do often prefer to work in schools.

Some funding is available to employers for graduate training under the EYT programme.

Graduates still need both CPD and career development opportunities.

Further information

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