Trainers and practitioners still feel a bit in the dark about the new Level 3. Mary Evans investigates.
Uncertainties surrounding the new Level 3 early years qualification are causing headaches across the sector, from the awarding bodies to the training providers and colleges.
Although the new qualification is not due to be launched until next September, the lead-time necessary for introducing a new award is such that in some respects, training providers are already behind schedule, and they still do not know key details about the content or size of the new qualification.
'It is a very tight time scale,' says Gill Mason, childcare adviser at City and Guilds. 'You could say we are waiting with bated breath. I have just been at a meeting with the CWDC. They are preparing information for the centres to update them on what is going to be in the Level 3. We have less than a year now, and we have made it clear that the training providers and colleges need to be able to plan how they will deliver the new qualification.'
Marketing materials for colleges are routinely printed around 18 months in advance, so the deadline for brochures for the 2010 September intake has already passed. Over the autumn colleges begin the process of running open days and interviewing prospective learners. This will be made much harder for early years tutors if they cannot explain what next year's course will look like.
However, Pauline Jones, national development manager at CWDC, says, 'Change is challenging. Achieving the Government's ambition for a graduate-led early years workforce, where those working with our youngest children have Level 3 as a minimum, will require the involvement and support of a whole range of partners nationally, regionally and locally.
'Most significantly, it will need practitioners and settings to catch hold of the vision, as they have so often in the past, because like the CWDC they want the best possible outcomes for the children and families they serve.'
Lesley Baugh, manager of MacTac, a voluntary sector early years training provider on Merseyside, accepts that the existing Level 3 CCLD needs to change because it does not fully incorporate the Early Years Foundation Stage. However, she says, 'we do not know what is going on at the moment. It is very annoying. At times we go to meetings and ask what is happening and nobody can tell you.
'Some people who are already on the existing Level 3 are worried about whether to continue, but we have been telling them that the work they have put in and their learning will not be discarded.'
'The main challenge is continuing to ensure the supply of workers to the children's workforce during a time when substantial changes are being made to qualification provision,' says Jill Barnes, CACHE QCF programme manager. 'The short timescale and significant differences between the new qualification and existing qualifications means that delivering the proposed changes and ensuring that similar numbers of learners register and progress through to completion is going to take substantial effort, focus and plenty of communication.'
Q&A
- What is the new Level 3 qualification?
The Level 3 Diploma in Working with Children and Young People will have an early learning and childcare pathway. This new qualification, which is being introduced in September 2010, replaces all the existing Level 3 qualifications in early learning and childcare.
- Why is the qualification being introduced?
The Government's ambition, as set out in Next Steps for Early Learning and Childcare, is to create a graduate-led workforce in which all those working with the youngest children have Level 3 qualifications as a minimum.
- What is happening about the CWDC list of acceptable early learning and childcare qualifications?
The Qualifications List for those delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage details qualifications that meet the criteria and are full and relevant, and those that do not.
- What happens to people with qualifications which the CWDC deems no longer to be acceptable?
Practitioners with qualifications which do not meet the criteria are required to upgrade. The Qualifications List for those delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage highlights training and assessment pathways to 'top up' qualifications or gain a further accredited qualification.
Qualifications already held by a practitioner are not ignored or discredited. People are not being asked to re-do or repeat work, but to build on what they know. Practitioners have until September 2012 to complete any necessary top-up units.
- When will training providers learn more about the new diploma?
CWDC will be engaging in direct conversations with the training providers' networks as soon as detailed information is available. A series of stakeholder engagement events is planned from November.
- How long do early years settings have to get their staff up to Level 3?
Currently the EYFS Statutory Framework does not require all staff to be qualified to Level 3. Early learning and childcare providers on domestic and non-domestic premises should be carrying out an audit of qualifications held by staff (an audit tool is available on the CWDC website). Where qualifications do not meet the criteria of 'full and relevant', practitioners have until September 2012 to complete any required pathways to ensure qualifications continue to meet requirements.
- Is it true that early years settings whose staff are not all at Level 3 will be deemed unsatisfactory by Ofsted?
On this matter, Ofsted has stated: 'If providers do not meet the qualifications requirements of the EYFS, it will have an impact on judgements as they are not meeting legal requirements. However, it will not necessarily result in an inadequate judgement. We focus on the impact that a lack of qualified staff has on the quality of provision and outcomes for children.'
- How much will it cost to upskill the workforce so the entire childcare workforce in England is at Level 3 by 2015 - and who pays?
It is envisaged the new full Level 3 award will be funded as now. At this stage it is less clear what funding will be available for people upgrading to the new award.
The qualifications audit will enable the CWDC to identify more accurately the cost of upgrading to Level 3 in particular areas. This information could also be used to secure additional funding for the sector. Having one qualification also has the potential to ensure efficient use of funding.
FURTHER INFORMATION
http://www.cwdcouncil.org.uk/qualifications-list
http://www.cwdcouncil.org.uk/early-years/audit-tool
THE COLLEGE VIEW
Lynda Cormack, programme area head for early years at Bromley College, was hoping to attend a training course on the new qualification soon so she could give a presentation on it to the head of the department and her colleagues.
'We have not heard anything at all, so that is just not possible at the moment,' she says. 'When we are going to start teaching a new course at the beginning of the autumn term we would plan to start working on it from the February before so we would be ready in time.
'That means we have a little time yet, but before we start working on the new qualification I need to have done the groundwork. I need to have gone on a training course so I can then train my colleagues.
'There is a great deal to do in organising to teach a new course - and you have to fit that work in with what you are already doing in the existing course.
'You need to get a thorough understanding of the new course to plan how it will be delivered and how many teams of people will be needed to put in strengths in the right places. Staffing is another issue. In the current climate there have been cutbacks and we have fewer sessional staff than last year. You need to see what course materials you need.
'We just don't know yet how we are going to be running the Level 3 course next year. This year we have been inundated with applications. We would normally take 20-24 on the course and this year we have 29 enrolled and a waiting list.
'I think one reason for the increase is that word is getting out that the Level 2 is ending, so if they want to go into childcare they have to get their grades and get on a Level 3 course.
'The uncertainty is causing us concerns, but I suppose everybody is feeling the same. I often hear myself saying, "at the moment it is like this", because you don't know when something is going to change or new advice will be issued.'
THE CURRENT TIMELINES
- April - September 2009: Planning for implementation
- July - December 2009: Unit and qualification development
- January - August 2010: Accreditation and qualification promotion
- September 2010: Qualifications available for use in the sector