Its new report, Working for the future: re-imagining the children's sector workforce, argues that current workforce reviews focus on specific groups of workers while excluding others. For example, the report says, the Scottish Executive's Early Years Child Care and Workforce Review includes nursery nurses but excludes pre-school teachers.
It points out that such an approach fails to reflect the Executive's commitment to the creation of integrated children's services and a joined-up workforce.
While two-thirds of social workers and almost all teachers, nurses and midwives have qualifications at levels four and five, only 8 per cent of childcare-related occupations have qualifications at this level.
Bronwen Cohen, chief executive of Children in Scotland, said, 'Children and family-centred services require a more joined-up and flexible workforce.
The challenges the sector is facing in terms of education and training are not compartmentalised and we cannot address them separately.'
Children in Scotland claims an overarching review of the children's sector workforce would encompass 220,000 workers. This is more than double the Scottish Executive's previous estimate of 100,000 and includes groups of workers who were previously excluded, such as nannies, foster carers and youth workers.
Meanwhile, new research published last week in Issue 9 of the journal Children in Europe suggests early years practitioners must be better trained if they are to deliver a pre-school curriculum successfully.
The research compares qualification levels and curricula in different European countries. John Bennett, a consultant for the directorate of education at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, said, 'Formal curricula have been spreading rapidly into the early years field. Some countries, such as Sweden, are giving their pre-school workers more freedom to decide the methods they use but recognise that this requires a professional, well-educated workforce.'
The Children in Scotland report Working for the future: re-imagining the children's sector costs 15 for members, 19.50 for non-members from www.childreninscotland.org.uk/workforce.