Managers and lead practitioners in early education and childcare will start registering in October, and other practitioners will register from March 2007.
The SSSC has extended the list of accepted qualifications and expects employers to use 'a phased approach', with individuals expected to gain qualifications within three years of registration.
To give staff time to undertake qualifications, no final date has been set for registration. The SSSC expects 6m in 2007-08 and 2008-09 from the workforce development grant, given to childcare partnerships, to fund training.
However, concerns have been expressed that older, experienced but unqualified practitioners will be forced out of the sector.
Nursery manager Linda Pirie, a board member of the Association of Quality Nurseries Scotland, said, 'In principle we think it's a great idea, but the way the system is set up is badly affecting mature workers. Many of us in the private and voluntary sectors have lost people with mounds of experience. I've lost three nursery staff already because of the pressure they're under to gain qualifications.'
Ms Pirie will have to take an SVQ Level 4 in Children's Care, Learning and Development, although she has an equivalent Montessori qualification. 'I feel I would gain nothing from taking an SVQ 4 but I am told I need one to manage a nursery,' she said. 'I have received an excellent Care Commission report and HMIE report, but that is not taken into consideration.'
A spokesman for the SSSC said, 'Workers who have experience and are competent in their job will be well placed to complete their SVQ, as it is a matter of formally evidencing their existing competence. This is not about formal essays and exams but an opportunity for workers, often for the first time, to have their skills and experience validated.'