Trailblazing training standards

Representatives from 13 nursery providers, including Busy Bees and Birmingham City University, last year put together a "trailblazer group" to design apprenticeship standards to be used to train senior and lead practitioners at Levels 5 and 6. The group was separate to the Early Years Apprenticeship Trailblazer Group established by the Department for Education in March 2014 to review and develop all Early Years Educator (EYE) training standards.

What do the standards cover?

The group's intentions were to develop the standards for Level 5 and 6 apprenticeship frameworks to provide our childcare practitioners with a total career path from Level 2 up to degree level.

When forming the group to develop Level 5 and 6 standards, we made it clear that each employer needed to appreciate the time commitment involved. The group has been carefully formed and consists of organisations that represent the sector, already actively support apprenticeships and those who recognise and understand sector challenges.

We were always aware that the original trailblazer group had the rights to develop the apprenticeship standards from Level 3 through to Level 6. But following the dispersal of that group in February 2017, Busy Bees was approached by the DfE to review and chair a trailblazer group to develop the Level 3 to 6 EYE standards, which we agreed to do last month.

How will they be developed?

As a group, we will be reviewing the standards across the board by working with a number of employers to ensure they accurately reflect the needs of the sector and are robust enough to ensure the early years workforce has the knowledge, skills and behaviour to provide the very best childcare.

As part of a wider consultation, all employers across the sector will be given the opportunity to provide feedback on the EYE standards.

The work of the trailblazer group will consist of a combination of approaches including professional forum discussions within the group itself and attendance by members at key industry events.

We will work  closely with Bright Horizons as part of the review, and the National Day Nurseries Association will play an advisory role reaching out to the sector.

In light of the government's decision to remove the GCSE requirements from EYE Level 3 qualifications, the trailblazer group will be adding functional skills as acceptable equivalences [to GCSEs] to the proposed standards, and a wider consultation will then follow to get the views of employers across the sector. 

When will they be ready?

We expect the recommendations to develop the EYE Level 3 apprenticeship standards to be published during the summer. In addition to this, our overall goal is to move swiftly but carefully to publish a set of standards that provide our childcare practitioners with a total career path from Level 2 up to the degree-level apprenticeship.

What role will employers play?

The development of the new apprenticeship standards - including the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy from 6 April - will put early years employers in the driving seat.

The way the system is formed means that employers are in control of developing the standards and have the freedom to access their levy money to control the quality and delivery of apprenticeships within the sector. This will ensure that new people coming into the industry will have the skills and attitudes expected to succeed in childcare.

Can the standards help solve the workforce shortage?

Encouraging more great people into the industry continues to be a challenge.
 
However, the removal of the GCSE requirements will ensure that we are not turning away individuals who have the potential to become fantastic childcare practitioners, simply because they do not have the necessary qualifications.

Since the government brought in the new GCSE requirements in April 2015, Busy Bees has been open in its view that when recruiting, we put emphasis on personality and passion for delivering exceptional care to children and their families, not on formal qualifications.

However, it is important that those who dedicate their lives to working with children achieve good results in English and maths, and opportunities should be in place to help those individuals who did not reach the required levels in school for whatever reason.

There are many personal qualities such as having empathy, dedication and enthusiasm for helping to shape a child's future, that cannot be taught and, ultimately, these are the skills that we look for in all our staff.

One of the biggest challenges for the sector is for childcare to be seen as a career choice and not just a job.

We are set on eradicating the negative perceptions around choosing childcare as a career, challenging the whole "hair or care" ethos that it is only fit for those who struggle academically.


Trailblazer Group

• Birmingham City University
• Blossom Day Nursery*
• Busy Bees (Derby)
• Busy Bees (national)
• Busy Bees (Wigan)
• Cheeky Monkeys Day Nursery
• Darcey Bunnie Nursery
• Hollies Day Nursery
• Holme Park Day Nursery
• The Learning Tree
• Little Cupcaker
• Shapes Day Nursery*

*Blossom and Shapes have two settings each

Fay Gibbin is training manager at Busy Bees Early Years Training Academy