Is an early years degree course the way forward for ambitious childcarers? Mary Evans finds out whether the graduates consider it time well spent
Britain's first degree course in Early Childhood Studies is in its tenth year at Bristol University, and more than 2,000 students join similar academic programmes across the country each year. But what happens to them when they graduate? Is the ECS degree a route into teaching? Is it a doorway to senior positions in childcare and related careers? Is it instrumental in the creation of a high-calibre early years workforce?
Firm evidence is difficult to find, as the institutions offering ECS degrees operate independently of one another. However, Pamela Calder, convenor of the ECS Degrees Network, says network members, representing around 30 universities, report that each course enrols about 80 students a year and they are all over-subscribed.
She says about one quarter of ECS graduates use the course as a pathway into teaching by taking the Post-Graduate Certificate in Education. Others go into an array of management and advisory jobs, from Sure Start to children's publishing, from research to the civil service. They often take further qualifications to pursue their chosen careers such as family law, child psychology or social work.
Kay Sargent, lecturer on the Bristol BSc Honours Degree, says, 'Some of them just use it as a degree to go off and do something else. For instance, we had somebody join Barclays Bank. Most of them want a career with children and 95 per cent of them end up working with children.'
Rachel Holmes, programme leader for the ECS BA course at Manchester Metropolitan University, says students are finding challenging and rewarding employment, if not in childcare, then in related fields. 'Quite a few gain management positions in children's centres. Somebody recently got a fairly high-up job in an early years partnership. One student is going to do a law degree and work with children and families, while another is going into the police.
'The degree opens up a range of options at managerial level. The Government is very keen to develop children's services, so there are many more opportunities available in early years excellence centres and on Sure Start schemes. Our students are qualified and equipped to apply for these positions.'
All three academics say few of their students plan to work as nursery nurses, not least because neither the pay nor status of nursery nursing rewards their achievements as honours graduates. Rachel Holmes says, 'Our students do not do nursery nursing once they have completed the degree. The degree takes them on from nursery nursing.'
Kay Sargent thinks the Bristol graduates who work in childcare would most likely 'seek to be leaders. By working with children they are limiting their financial opportunities. In this country we do not reward working with children. I imagine some of our students in five or ten years' time will be in the DfES and Ofsted and in positions to be quite influential.'
A spokesman for Bristol University's School of Policy Studies, which runs the course, says it fills a gap in the higher education system by providing an opportunity to consider childhood, child development and service provision for children and families from a multi- disciplinary perspective.
It also helps fill a gap in the labour market. Changes in women's employment patterns, the introduction of the Children Act 1989 and recent initiatives such as Sure Start have highlighted the needs of young children and families, but service providers have had serious difficulties in finding people with the right level of education and understanding.
However, students opting to be hands-on early years practitioners question the value of the degree to their careers. ECS graduate Helen Green, manager of the Just Learning nursery by Norwich airport, explains that when she left Suffolk College, University of East Anglia, she could only find a job in a small nursery where she worked her way up into a management position. From there she moved to Just Learning as a deputy manager before being promoted.
'A lot of the people I was on the course with don't work in childcare any more because of the pay. You really want to earn a bit of money after you have been a poor student for three years. I didn't take out a student loan. I was lucky my parents supported me. Some people had huge amounts of debt.
'When I first finished the degree I was no higher up the scale. I could have got to exactly the same point if I had not done the degree. It is a waste of three years.'
Her colleague Laura Corbould, who is taking the ECS degree part-time at Norwich City College, worries whether her efforts in working and studying will be recognised.
'I am 25 and I am looking to take on more responsibilities, like buying a house. Before I moved to Just Learning I was a room leader. I was doing what a teacher would do in terms of planning, education and care, but I was on under 9,000. You cannot buy a house on that kind of money.'
'I felt I needed more qualifications and I found out about the degree course by chance. I worry now whether it is widely enough recognised and if it will help me get on.'
Alice Sharp, early years executive of the Scottish Independent Nurseries Association, reports the unhappy experience of a group of students she tutored on the Paisley University ECS course.
She says, 'Two of them have been promoted to project managers, but it is because of their experience and ability and nothing to do with the degree. The promotions were made when they were halfway through the course.
'They have had no money benefits. They are still very much on the basic rate of pay. They are earning less than shop assistants. One says she is paid more per hour working in a bar at the weekend than in the nursery. One girl did approach her manager and asked for a pay rise and got it, but she was told that the increase was based on her performance and not her qualification.'
She worries the graduates will become disillusioned and leave the profession. 'These girls are all in their early twenties. They want to be nursery nurses. They want to work in the childcare sector. They are very forward-thinking and they are optimistic. They should be encouraged to celebrate their achievements. Two of them do feel the degree will be of long-term benefit. I just hope they are not worn down by it all.
'I hate to think of them leaving, but who would stay for 5 an hour? To be told your money is based on your performance and when the money is negligible, it implies your performance is rotten. It is not. These girls are excellent. I will be looking for some new assessors and I would have no hesitation in approaching any of them.'
She says her former students felt that taking the degree had been worthwhile in terms of their personal development. Helen Green adds, 'I enjoyed looking into child psychology in greater depth than I had done on my BTec. I think the degree course has taught me how to think objectively, but I don't feel I am any better off because of it.
'I know for a fact that they didn't offer me the deputy manager position because of my qualifications. It was because of my references. All my degree does is prove that I can use my brain. I probably should have done a business studies course mixed with ECS.'
John Woodward, director of the Busy Bees chain, says both the ECS degree and the Nursery Management degree which his chain helped developed at Liverpool Hope University are useful. But he thinks all nursery managers, whether in private, not-for-profit or local authority settings, need business skills.
'There is quite a lot of the early years courses, in terms of methodology, that is pretty well covered in other courses, so people can acquire those skills and knowledge elsewhere,' he says. 'We felt that what was not available was a course that enabled people to do their job and advance their careers. There are general management degrees around, but we realised what people wanted and needed: a course aimed specifically at managing a nursery.'
Tracey Storey, head of personnel and training for the Leapfrog nursery chain, says the ECS degree would not automatically qualify someone for a managerial position. 'If we were interviewing and there was somebody with the degree and somebody with five years' post-qualification experience who had the NNEB, or equivalent, we would feel that the experienced person had the greater benefit. 'Somebody purely with an academic qualification would not be able to go straight into a managerial position with us, because managers need to possess practical skills.'