Six reports? Should I read them all?
The implications in this area are potentially huge, but you're probably not going to get much out of these unless it's a big part of your job.
The majority of us may be satisfied in knowing that progress in creating an integrated qualifications framework that will maximise flexibility and mobility across the whole children and young people's workforce is going to be very complicated indeed.
Why? Well take this example. Half-way through one of this series of reports comes the statement that the study "tried to identify significant qualifications" for each occupation. You'd have thought that was a fairly basic step when trying to map qualifications. But, say the researchers, "in practice this proved almost impossible". In some professions there is a clearly defined "gatekeeping" qualification, but elsewhere the impression given is of an unregulated Wild West of qualifications. "I have given up trying to work out how one qualification relates to another," states one head of family support about the situation in early years. "Almost every application form turns up a qualification we haven't come across before."
What else? Understanding of, and preparation for, the common core of skills laid down by the Department for Education and Skills is patchy, and being lost in the variety of other local and national agendas. Local children's trusts are only now starting to link training to the common core and there seems to be a view that more cultural change is needed before it can be widely addressed. Some areas of the common core are virtually ignored - only seven per cent of a sample of 200 major qualifications examined addressed the common core area of "supporting transitions". Further problems exist with the inconsistency of the names of qualifications.
Greater consistency and transparency is called for, so that employers can have a better idea of what they will get.
At least give me some good news. Well at least we have a much better idea of the scale of the problem. The Sheffield project has done the donkey work in compiling a big database of potential qualifications available, even though users are warned that information about qualifications "is likely to remain contestable and indeterminable".
Which means what exactly? That it's all a bit of a mess. But thanks to this work we can also now assess more easily what all these qualifications actually cover and can start to look at gaps, duplication and so on. We also have a list or map of the actual jobs that are deemed to be in the children and young people's workforce - from playgroup leader to youth justice professional, assistant youth worker and outdoor activity leader.
Needless to say, being definitive is problematic, and the reports call for a pragmatic approach to keeping track of the broad range of jobs in the workforce.
FACT BOX
- The Sheffield Hallam University database contains nearly 1,000 qualifications and some 4,000 associated training modules - The Department for Education and Skills estimates that 2.6 million people work mainly with children and young people and their families in England. Of these, 60 per cent are within the public sector, 27 per cent in the private sector, and 13 per cent in the voluntary and community sector
- The workforce is predominantly female - except in the area of sport - and is more likely than average to be part time
- The six reports on Mapping qualifications and training for the children's workforce can be found in the research section of the web site www.dfes.gov.uk.
