Aconsortium of four colleges in Hertfordshire is leading the way in enhancing the status and career prospects of early years practitioners. The first intake of students, enrolled in September 2002, accounts for one tenth of around 1,000 early years workers currently studying for a foundation degree.
Ideal for people who need to work while studying, foundation degrees offer flexible learning, with the option to progress to an honours degree with only 15 months' further study.
Christine Evans, programme manager for the foundation degree at Hertford Regional College, says there is a clear group of students who intend to train as teachers, but stresses that the course is about giving early years professionals a level 4 qualification and fitting with the Government's agenda 'for senior practitioners to act as right-hand assistants in the classroom'. She adds, 'It's about raising aspirations.'
Hertford Regional, West Hertfordshire, Oaklands and North Hertfordshire colleges make up the consortium and the University of Hertfordshire validates the degree. The college offering the course sets entry requirements, but students are expected to have a level 3 early years qualification and be working in the sector.
From September this year, a full-time Early Years Foundation Degree will include:
* management
* child development
* ICT
* theory, practice and context of working with children
* research
* options for specific roles and career paths
* work-based modules.
Lyn Trodd, chair of the consortium's early years foundation degree development committee, says students range in age from their early twenties to their fifties and include classroom assistants, nursery teachers and managers of pre-schools.
There are considerable financial incentives on offer. The Department for Education and Skills pays fees for the first two years of the three-year course. Students are loaned a laptop and printer, which they can buy, and given a 500 book bursary. Each student's workplace also receives 500 towards the cost of supply cover for the one day a week spent at college. Extra childcare costs are also met.
Study involves seminar programmes, workshops, ICT training and tutorial support.
The course design has been influenced by a restructuring of services in the county, with social workers, health workers and educationalists now working in a multi-agency way. Some of the course modules are influenced by this multi-agency approach. Child protection, for example, takes into account health and education aspects, not just the traditional social work perspective.
From September the DfES has confirmed funding for an extra 25 new places at West Hertfordshire College, in addition to 25 places at each of the four colleges. There will also be a full-time two-year course with 40 fully-funded places at West Hertfordshire and Hertford Regional College.
Lyn Trodd says, 'With a foundation degree, 50 per cent of the learning outcomes are work-based assessment as work is seen as an essential part of the course.'
She adds that childcare workers find foundation degrees a real boost to their status. 'I think we're moving towards a change in the whole landscape of early years, because they give people who want to stay working with children real recognition.'
Case study: the power of communication
Stacy Ringer, 29, from Harlow, has worked as a childminder for five years and attends Hertford Regional College. Her mother, also a childminder, looks after the 'family business' while her daughter is at college.
She has a CACHE level 3 in Childminding Practice and an NVQ 3 in Early Years Care and Education, so the foundation degree appealed to her as it offered more scope.
Stacy says, 'I found it a steep learning curve because it is very different from an NVQ Level 3. With higher education, the responsibility is more down to you.'
She enjoys learning the theory behind the practice and finds that attending college weekly keeps her focused. 'I get so much out of meeting up with the other students and it helps to keep me motivated.'
She envisages a career change when her daughter, now five, starts secondary school, and she has not ruled out teaching.
'I would like to go on and maybe get a degree in early years, because I really enjoy the subject. I feel I'm building on everything I know.
'I really want to sell this course, knowing how much I get out of it. It gives you a feeling of achievement. I'd say to any childminder - go for it!'
June Holgate, 40, is a classroom assistant working with Foundation Stage children at Amwell View School in Ware, Hertfordshire. Before starting the foundation degree at Hertford Regional College, June's last contact with higher education was the BTec national diploma in nursery nursing, gained 12 years ago.
'I felt a bit stale and jaded and this looked like the next step,' she says. 'The financial package is important, because without it I wouldn't have been able to do the course.'
Mentoring is seen as a key element of the course. Students find a mentor in their workplace to help link theory with practice. June meets with her mentor, the deputy head at her school, fortnightly. She finds this very supportive because she has the chance to set her own agenda and discuss any concerns.
She says the foundation degree has more than exceeded her expectations.
Initially, she envisioned the course as an end in itself, and imagined working as a senior practitioner. But her confidence has grown so much that she is thinking of teaching. Her advice to future students? 'Realise it will make demands on your time. And you need to be self-motivated.'
Further information
* www.dfes.gov.uk/studentsupport/formsandguides
* www.foundationdegree.org.uk
* www.hertreg.ac.uk
* www.westherts.ac.uk
* www.oaklands.ac.uk
* www.nhc.ac.uk