A pamphlet will also be published with details of 'the way forward for the early years sector'.
Pauline Jones, national development officer for the Children's Workforce Development Council, outlined the implications of the strategy and the work of the council, which she said would recruit nine regional development workers. She said, 'The strategic challenges are the same for those across the children's workforce, but the early years is rightly a sectoral priority.'
She said there was a need 'to set the bar higher' by developing the role of the early years professional, increasing the number of graduate-level managers and raising the minimum qualifications of the workforce. 'In the council we will focus our efforts to develop more opportunities within the workforce and route qualifications at lower levels to enable the sector to grow its own highly qualified workforce, including multi-access points to training and the accreditation of prior learning and experience.'
Government spending on early years training would be 180m in 2005/2006, she added. 'But there are a multitude of funding streams and we need to improve the coherence and effectiveness of existing funding.'
Ms Jones joined a panel of experts in London on 22 November to discuss quality issues in the workforce, curriculum and care, and quality assurance and inspections.
Delegates also had a chance to put questions to the panel, which included Richard Dorrance, chief executive of the Council for Awards in Children's Care and Education, and Professor Peter Moss from the Thomas Coram Research Unit at London University's Institute of Education.
One delegate from Exeter studying an NVQ level 4 in management raised the issue of the shortage of assessors.
Mr Dorrance acknowledged that there were local 'hotspots' with shortages of early years assessors, and a nationwide problem with playwork. He said, 'In 1997, when we last had that sort of problem, the Learning and Skills Council put large sums of money into holding events to attract assessors and then gave 100 per cent funding to train them. That worked really well.
We're talking with the LSC about doing that again now. And that money would go across colleges and to independent training providers.'
Describing the practice of only paying assessors when a candidate completes their NVQ as 'crazy', he said, 'There is enormous pressure to pass candidates and if candidates need a lot of support - the average is 40 hours but some need 80 hours or longer - they don't get any more money.
What we need is an hourly rate to attract high-quality assessors.'
The need to cut the number of early years and childcare qualifications, which now number 600, was also discussed.
Mr Dorrance said, 'There is a need for a cull. But as an awarding body what we have to grapple with is what qualifications will look like in 2008, with a new children's workforce.'