WHY WE ARE CONFIDENT ABOUT THE NEW DIPLOMA
By Pauline Jones, assistant director at the Children's Workforce Development Council
Recent weeks have seen some organisations and individuals voicing their concerns that the new Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce is 'dumbing down the early years sector'. However, there are many others who are supportive and who have played a key role in its development. So, why are we at CWDC confident that the learning outcomes of the new diploma represent what candidates must know, understand and be able to do to be 'occupationally competent'?
As a sector skills body, CWDC is committed to acting on what employers, the workforce and children, young people and families tell us, as well as supporting the Government's drive to upskill and professionalise the early learning and childcare workforce.
First, the diploma is based upon National Occupational Standards that were widely consulted on in 2008 and on which the qualification's predecessors were based. Nothing has been taken away. However, the opportunity has been grasped to update and make sure the qualification fully supports delivery of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
The diploma's development was supported by an expert group of over 30 representatives, including professional bodies, training providers, higher education institutions, leading early learning and childcare providers, sector organisations and members of the early years workforce. With awarding organisations undertaking the essential technical aspects of preparing a qualification for the market, we are confident that the full range of 'professional expertise' has been brought to bear.
But at CWDC we have also worked with children, young people and families to ensure that their unique perspectives on what they need from the people who work with them is taken into account. The extract below is from one of our consultation reports.
'After care, learning social and practical skills and becoming increasingly confident and independent were the most important outcomes of early years provision for parents and carers. Children also thought that these were important.'
The advantages of the Qualification and Credit Framework
The qualification has all the benefits of the new unit-based Qualification and Credit Framework, which allows candidates to build up credits, some of which are transferable to other qualifications. The QCF has enabled us to specify both knowledge and competence - that is, to say what candidates must know and understand, but are also able to do. This is something we were asked by employers and the existing workforce to ensure. As a number of passionate early years practitioners and managers told us, 'It is not enough to be able to do a task - candidates must know why they are doing it in a particular way and be able to transfer that competence to new situations'.
With its emphasis on learning outcomes rather than 'teaching input', of course, the QCF specifies what candidates must know, understand and be able to do, not how long they will need to study or practise their skills to demonstrate the required outcome.
That's why we have not prescribed the mode of delivery or the number of guided learning hours a candidate needs to undertake. A one-fits-all quota of learning hours, with the emphasis on time served rather than learning outcomes, won't guarantee a higher level of competency and certainly won't suit the needs of all learners.
Training providers are already planning differentiated support for different groups of learners. And for those who want to progress to higher education, the QCF offers the opportunity to undertake units at higher levels that will demonstrate 'academic and study skills' and support those already in the workforce who want to progress to Early Years Professional Status.
Specialist knowledge is retained through the Level 3 Diploma's separate pathways, with units and learner outcomes designed for each of the early years, children's social care and learning and development support services (LDSS) sectors.
And last but not least, let's remember why the new diploma was developed. In 2008 there were 16 different types of early years qualifications being delivered and funded by the public purse. There was confusion about what was appropriate, about duplication and repetition of learning. With one qualification representing occupational competence, employers can be clear; scarce funding can be targeted; learners can be confident that their qualification has worth; and in the end, young children and their families will benefit.
So, what's the future for the new diploma?
We're committed to gaining UCAS tariff for the Level 3 Diploma and are working with awarding bodies and UCAS to achieve this. We understand that awarding organisations are planning to develop qualifications to sit alongside the Level 2 Certificate and Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce, in order to meet the needs of full-time college learners. CWDC has a role in recommending qualifications for funding, and awarding organisations are able to approach us to review their qualification proposals.
Meanwhile, the Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce has become available for learners to take from 1 August. It will undoubtedly take time to see the real results and impact on the workforce and on children, but early signs from training providers and early learning and childcare settings are positive. Many training providers have strongly welcomed the new qualification and, like CWDC, do not consider it any way an inferior offer for the sector. On the contrary, it is a quality product that has been developed in response to the expressed needs of employers and the workforce, and in close collaboration with the sector.
As Debbie Main, childcare and training manager at Ark Day Nursery, said, 'The people to benefit most from the new arrangements will be the next generation of workers. It's been really hard to advise students about which qualification to go for because there has been such a huge choice. With just one qualification at Level 2 and one at Level 3 it will be so much easier.'
WHY WE SHOULD ALL BE CONCERNED AT THE WATERING DOWN OF EARLY YEARS QUALIFICATIONS
By Chris Lawrence, principal of the Chiltern College, an independent childcare training college in Reading with a large day nursery attached
The new qualifications, which have been designed by the Children's Workforce Development Council, are in line with the Qualification and Credit Framework and will replace all existing sector-related qualifications.
The CWDC says that the Level 3 Diploma has been developed to support the previous Government's ambition of 'creating a respected children and young people's workforce who make a positive difference to children, young people and their families' and also to meet the ambition of the 2020 Children and Young People's Workforce Strategy to aspire to a minimum Level 3 and graduate-led workforce'.
Having compared the new diploma to current Level 3 qualifications and discussed it with other early years professionals, I am extremely concerned that the new qualification does not equate to, and does not compare with, the current qualifications on offer.
For example, the CACHE Diploma in Childcare and Education (DCE) is a full-time twoyear course. It has a maximum of 360 UCAS points attached, which allows candidates to progress to higher education. Through assessment tasks, both internal and external, it requires candidates to show an in-depth knowledge of all aspects of children's care, learning and development. It has recommended learning and placement hours.
The new CWDC Diploma has no timescale for completion. However, most awarding bodies are saying that it could be completed in a one-year period or less. It has almost half the recommended guided learning hours of the DCE and almost half of the recommended practice placement hours. It has no externally assessed assignment tasks and no entry requirements.
Effectively, a 16-year-old could leave school with no qualifications, complete the CWDC Diploma in one year or less, and be employed to work alone in sole charge of very young children or in a responsible supervisory position in a daycare setting, children's centre or nursery school. In fact, currently there will be no other training route for them to take. This puts both the children and the person caring for them at risk.
While I believe there should be some recognition that mature candidates with experience may require different pathways to gaining a qualification (currently available through the NVQ), are we really convinced that this new 'watered down' qualification will be suitable for young and less experienced people who need time to develop their skills and knowledge?
The previous Government's 2020 Children and Young People's Workforce Strategy aspires to a minimum Level 3 and graduate-led workforce. I fail to see how we are going to develop a graduate-led workforce when there are currently no plans for the development of Level 4 or 5 qualifications and therefore no career progression.
Lobbying for a new two-year Level 3
It is also difficult to see how we are going to achieve the high standards set by the EYFS when CWDC's qualifications lack parity with them.
We are told by the CWDC that this qualification is 'what employers want'. What employers want and need is a highly skilled, well trained workforce which is well prepared for and able to deal with the demanding role that lies ahead of them. More importantly, this is what parents want and what children deserve. Unfortunately, this new qualification framework will not provide this.
CACHE is currently lobbying support for the development of a new two-year Level 3 diploma in response to concerns raised by training providers and employers that the new diploma is not suitable for people who want to go on to complete a degree. I would go further than this and say, let's look to see if this new diploma is suitable for people who want to go on and care for and educate young children.
The new Government has put a hold on, or is, consulting on so many initiatives introduced by the previous Government. This initiative could, in the opinion of many very experienced early years practitioners, have the most significant negative impact on the learning and development of the very young and most vulnerable children. Why, then, is the Government allowing this new qualification framework to go through? This is a question that I hope many more people will be putting to their MPs.
Further information