Plans to raise professional standards at heart of early years review

With government plans to extend free childcare to disadvantaged two-year-olds in full swing, and the revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum coming into force in September, the quality of early years provision is an ever-important concern.

Professor Cathy Nutbrown’s review of childcare and early education qualifications, Foundations for Quality, has therefore come at a critical time.

Following on from her interim report published in March, which issued a stark warning over the patchy quality of childcare courses and the questionable calibre of some candidates, Nutbrown offers a comprehensive set of recommendations aimed at overhauling standards.

These build on Dame Clare Tickell’s review of the EYFS, which argued that the success of the revised framework rests on boosting the quality of the workforce.

Nutbrown’s final report has been almost universally applauded by early years practitioners and experts, who want to see quality, standards and the status of the early years workforce raised.

Here, we examine the report’s key recommendations.

Qualifications
Nutbrown sets out an ambition that all early years professionals ought to be qualified to at least Level 3 over the course of the next decade.

She warns that Level 2 courses, which are equivalent to a GCSE grade A* to C, should not be considered sufficient to qualify someone as an early years practitioner.

While conceding that many professionals working in the early years sector already have qualifications that exceed Level 2, Nutbrown sets out a timeline for the minimum standard for the workforce to be gradually raised to Level 3 by 2022.  From September 2013, she wants half of all staff working in group settings to possess at least a Level 3 qualification, rising to 70 per cent from September 2015.

Moreover, strengthening the quality of Level 3 qualifications is at the heart of the report’s proposed reforms. Existing requirements mean that early years group settings must be managed by a professional with at least a Level 3 qualification, but Nutbrown believes that many of the current courses on offer fall short in both content and standard.

She wants courses to include a greater emphasis on child development and play, which she believes are fundamental to children’s wellbeing. Similarly, the report calls for all courses to contain a deeper understanding of special educational needs and disability, and for all qualifications to focus on children aged from birth to seven.

Under Nutbrown’s proposals, the newly formed Teaching Agency would be tasked with developing a more robust set of criteria to ensure that courses promote the right content.

Liz Bayram, joint chief executive at the National Childminding Association (NCMA), backs the aspiration to raise the overall standards of the profession, but is aware that there will be significant challenges to achieving the ambitious recommendation of qualifying all professionals to Level 3.

“More than 60 per cent of our members are already qualified to this level, but most achieve this while they are also earning an income from childminding,” she says. “Very few join the profession with that qualification. So NCMA is particularly keen to explore with government what can be done to ensure individuals who have no previous experience of working in childcare, but who want a career in childminding, are supported to join the profession.”

Candidates
A significant point of concern for Nutbrown in her interim report was the fact that at present, there is no requirement for those studying for an early years qualification to “demonstrate competence in English and mathematics”.

She referred to the “hair or care” stereotype, which she believes has led to students with poor grades to be steered towards a career in childcare.

In response to Nutbrown’s call for evidence, the Early Childhood Studies Degree Network said: “There is a common but wrong perception that it is ‘easy’ work… higher achieving students are dissuaded by head teachers and careers advisers from entering this area.”

Nutbrown wants this to change and says that if standards are to improve, the expectations of the workforce should increase.

Therefore, a key recommendation of Nutbrown’s final review is to make Level 2 English and mathematics a compulsory condition for entry onto a childcare course.

As well as the candidates, under the report’s recommendations, tutors will be expected to have relevant experience in early years and be allowed time away from teaching to keep up to date with current practice.

The report acknowledges that work placements are an important part of training and wants those who are on placements to be supported in a high quality setting. Colleges and training providers will therefore be expected to place students in settings rated only as “good” or “outstanding” by Ofsted.

Career development
Another major element of Nutbrown’s review focuses on career development. From newly qualified practitioners through to those experienced in the field, she wants all staff to be supported to progress and keep on top of latest theory and practice.
The report suggests that a mentor is made available in the first six months of an early years worker’s career. She also calls on the government to bring together online induction and training modules.

According to Nutbrown, the status of the profession is “intrinsically linked” to qualifications. She highlights the lack of parity between the early years sector and teaching, arguing that increasing the number of qualified teachers in early education and care could boost the status of the profession and improve the development of children aged from birth to seven.

The report recommends that an early years specialist route towards Qualified Teacher Status is developed to address these concerns. Eventually, Nutbrown hopes this will replace all current routes to graduate-level early years professional status.

As a priority, she suggests that all those who hold the current early years professional status should be the first to achieve Qualified Teacher Status.

Tricia Pritchard, Voice’s senior professional officer for early years and childcare, believes that the measures will address the  “misconception that anyone can care for children”.

“To ensure that the profession is of the highest quality, the childcare workforce must be qualified,” she says. “Requiring all those who work with children to hold a relevant qualification will take this forward, but there must be a strong career and salary structure to go with this.”

Given the capabilities of early years professionals and those with early years specialist teacher status, the report suggests there is scope for further exploration on the subject of increasing the number of children that staff are allowed to care for.

One issue she wants to be addressed with some urgency by the Department for Education is the progression routes available to all practitioners. She calls on the department to conduct research to ensure people from black and minority ethnic groups are not being excluded from more senior roles.

Charity 4Children believes the government should embrace the recommendations and back them with the right investment: “It offers to the workforce a strong professional identity, which will be valued by parents and wider society as well as stressing the importance of early childhood and how it should be understood, respected and valued in its own right,” a spokesman says.


In her own words: Professor Cathy Nutbrown

“Over the course of my review, I have been impressed by the high levels of commitment shown by so many people in different roles working with our young children.

"Excellent early years provision needs a highly qualified workforce. We need a new long-term vision for a highly skilled early years workforce, a vision that offers the very best for babies and young children.

"My final recommendations aim to put quality at the top of the agenda, securing good value for money – that is a sound ?investment in the future.

"Quality matters. Ultimately, the biggest quality factor is staff. Early years staff must have effective skills, strong pedagogical knowledge and understanding. Robust qualifications and training can have a powerful effect. 
    
"Learning begins from birth. The importance of early communication with babies during their early months of life is well known, as babies and young children establish social relationships and begin to formulate, and play with, language.

"My recommendations are designed to arrest the decline of qualifications standards, which seems to have occurred over the past two decades. This is particularly worrying when government is expanding the number of free places for two-year-olds. If we get qualifications right, this investment could be the biggest and most effective early intervention strategy this country has ever seen.

"We need a clear, rigorous system of qualifications. We must raise expectations of the workforce and attract the best people. Quality staff make a difference, and their levels of English and maths make a difference to how they do their job.

"The status of the profession is intrinsically linked to the qualifications market, so raising entry requirements and demanding higher levels of qualifications can lead to a high-status profession that brings real benefits to children. 

"My intention has always been to make a set of recommendations that move towards a long-term vision for a better, higher qualified and more professional early years workforce.

"It will be for the government and the sector to decide how they want to take forward my recommendations to make this vision a reality. It will not happen overnight and there are practical and financial implications to consider, but I have endeavoured to make my recommendations workable and affordable.

"We cannot afford to compromise on the quality of provision. Those entrusted with the care and education of our babies and young children must have the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding to provide the best. Poor quality provision will mean that young children pay a heavy price – they will miss out.

"With government support, we can achieve excellence in the qualification framework to the benefit of all young children and their families.”