Practitioners who are skilled in caring for babies are in strong demand. The current baby boom, combined with pressures on parents to return to work early, means demand for places is growing and nursery managers are having to invest in quality staff to provide the best care.
Increasingly it is being recognised that those individuals with Early Years Professional Status are well qualified to deliver best practice in this area.
Across each group of standards - knowledge and understanding, effective practice, relationships with children, communicating and working in partnership with families and carers, teamwork and collaboration, and professional development - candidates have to demonstrate their practice and leadership within the birth to 20 months age group, as well as 16 to 36 months and 30 to 60 months.
Caroline Johnson, who owns the two Stables Daycare nurseries in Kent and was one of the first Early Years Professionals to complete the status in 2007, believes it has been particularly valuable for developing her approach with babies. 'We are now more adventurous in the sensory activities we create, and the team working with this age group can be led in a more complex way,' she says. 'Practitioners are becoming more adept and confident at looking at babies' individual needs.'
Ms Johnson adds that EYPS has informed her appreciation of how quickly very young children change and enter new phases, and this is reflected in how the rooms of her nursery are resourced and managed. 'I am concerned with keeping up to date with the latest research and using this to ensure practice in the nursery is of the highest standard.'
Anne Prescott, who manages and owns the Ruddington and Radcliffe-on-Trent Day Nurseries in Nottingham, says she has used her EYP Status to sharpen the focus on babies. She has one practitioner currently pursuing the long EYP pathway and expects two others to embark on the status when they have achieved their foundation degrees.
'I have always worked with very young children,' she says. 'For me, EYPS has confirmed the need to constantly move forward and re-evaluate the approach with this age group. For example, we have introduced a programme of heuristic play that has been successful. We've also developed black-and-white areas based on research, which babies respond well to.'
Ms Prescott says the course has reinforced her existing knowledge. 'Brain development is significant in the first two years and it is absolutely vital for babies to have the right sensory opportunities in order for them to develop.
'Settings would benefit greatly from having an EYP in the baby room, and one EYP in a setting is probably not enough.'