Resolving childcare apprenticeship
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Providers' groups say more must be done to ensure childcare apprenticeship works for employers.
The number of early years practitioners qualified to Level 3 status has fallen almost 20 per cent since 2015, according to the National Day Nurseries Association's (NDNA) latest workforce survey.
The fall - initiated by the coalition government's aborted attempt to introduce tougher academic requirements to obtain Level 3 qualification - is fuelling a shortage of early years practitioners and high turnover of nursery staff.
In an attempt to arrest the decline, a group of 11 childcare providers, led by the training arm of the Busy Bees chain, was set up last year to develop a Level 3 apprenticeship alongside the Institute for Appreticeships to broaden the pool of potential workers.
However, its future is in doubt after Busy Bees announced in September that it had ended its involvement after 18 months, with the apprenticeship standard still not published.
With the NDNA survey showing that Brexit is likely to reduce the pool of practitioners further, three experts outline what needs to happen to ensure a childcare apprenticeship arrests the recruitment crisis.
Give employers equal status
By Michael Freeston, director of quality improvement, Pre-school Learning Alliance
There's no doubt that many in the sector will share Busy Bees' sense of frustration at a process which was advertised as employer-led, but in reality has left the views and requirements of the sector subordinate to those of the Institute for Apprenticeships (IFP).
This was exactly the experience of the first group to take on the early years standard setting role in 2015, of which the alliance was a member. At that time, the final stumbling block was the acceptability for functional skills qualifications as equivalent to GCSEs in English and maths - something that was subsequently changed.
It's not enough to call something "employer-led", especially if you are not prepared to spend time trying to understand the terminology employers use, let alone how their sector is regulated or the financial restraints they are under.
We are still waiting for a Level 3 apprenticeship standard to be introduced after four years. This has meant employers and training providers continue to struggle to deliver the existing apprenticeship framework on a funding level that in no way covers the costs involved and risks undermining the quality of training received.
Sadly, with the resignation of Busy Bees, the goal of developing further standards at Levels 2 and 5 seems further out of reach. The IFP must reaffirm its commitment to an employer-led approach or we risk the whole framework failing.
Listen to employers' views
By Stella Ziolkowski, director of quality and training, NDNA
I fail to understand how it has taken so long to gain approval of the Level 3 apprenticeship standard, especially when the qualification elements are defined by policy. The sector is passionate about the development of their staff. However, qualifications need to ensure that students exiting have the skills, knowledge and attributes to be exemplary practitioners.
We were delighted that government took the bold step of enabling employers to develop apprenticeships. The Nutbrown Review highlighted the quality of training was poor - students were not work-ready when exiting and employers had to "start from scratch".
Now the second trailblazer group appears to have stepped down, I am sure there will be another ready to pick up the pieces. But will this new group be reflective of the sector? It must be driven by a representative group of employers that understand the skills, knowledge and attributes practitioners must demonstrate to be competent, high-quality Level 3 practitioners.
There have been many consultations with employers via the trailblazer groups to seek their views to ensure the standards were fit for purpose. However, their views seem to be disregarded, with a government influence on what they perceive employers need. We need clarity on the trailblazer role and I urge the Institute for Apprenticeships to listen to the sector.
Time to change levy rules
By Mark Dawe, chief executive, Association of Employment and Learning Providers
The latest woes of the early years apprenticeship trailblazer are not surprising when you read the education select committee's report on the apprenticeship levy reforms. The committee's MPs want less "vainglorious" pronouncements on the new apprenticeship standards process and better evidence of real progress being made.
There have been disastrous falls in the number of apprenticeship starts. A major cause is the new co-investment requirement for smaller employers to pay a 10 per cent financial contribution towards the cost of the training and assessment of apprentices. Childcare training providers say many nurseries are finding this difficult to afford when faced with the costs of introducing 30 hours funded childcare.
A second factor is the requirement that at least 20 per cent of all apprenticeship training should take place off the job. Nurseries say they cannot afford the cost of staff backfill to cover the absence of the apprentice doing this training.
The committee has recommended that a more flexible sector-by-sector approach be adopted towards the amount of prescribed off-the-job training and that the government should extend the existing co-investment waiver for smaller employers to cover all 16- to 18-year-olds, and more disadvantaged 19- to 24-year-olds, employed by non-levy-paying employers.