A survey revealing a postcode lottery service has prompted the Family and Parenting Institute (FPI) to launch a campaign for Health Visitors. The FPI surveyed Primary Care Trusts which also revealed that Health Visitor numbers overall are in decline. A YouGov poll demonstrated that 76 per cent of parents want trained health visitors with up-to-date knowledge to provide parenting support and advice. 83 per cent of parents would like that in the home. A petition has been placed on the Downing Street website in support of the campaign. For more information and to sign the petition visit www.familyandparenting.org/healthVisitors
Nursery World has reported that early
years advanced NVQ apprentices have the worst success rates
in the work-based learning sector. In 2005-06 two thirds
of candidates failed to achieve their full framework award
of NVQ 3, key skills and technical certificate according
to a survey by the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI).
The article quoted Margaret Swift, who led
the ALI survey team, who said:
"Numeracy has been the biggest problem
for most learners. People are getting the NVQ, but not the
whole framework, and are working as NVQ-qualified. Good
employers won't do that, but some will. These people have
not got their key skills; they have not developed literacy
and numeracy skills."
Emma Phillips, managing director of nursery
chain Child Base was also quoted in the article as highlighting
the problem of lack of skills in school leavers joining
the early years workforce.
Lesley Staggs, an early years consultant and
former national director of the Foundation Stage said a
well trained workforce is one of the key issues in early
years. She said: "I am constantly arguing that we need
a huge investment in money in the early years and we cannot
afford to be wasting it."
The survey, 'Early years: it's not all child's
play' is available at www.ali.gov.uk.
From 1st April, ALI merges with Ofsted and the report will
be available from www.ofsted.gov.uk
(Nursery World, 15.03.07)
Plans for an integrated qualifications framework
(IQF) for the children's workforce were fleshed out last
week.The document, Clear Progression:
towards an Integrated Qualifications Framework, by
the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) with
the Children's Workforce Network (CWN), states that by next
month there will be a plan to develop 'common transferable
units based on the identification of common functions performed
by members of the children's workforce'. The unit-based
framework will allow mobility across the workforce and have
eight levels up to and including higher education and professional
level qualifications..Clear Progression:
towards an Integrated Qualifications Framework is
available at www.cwdcouncil.org.uk
(By Simon Vevers, Nursery
World, 09.11.06)
On 1 October, the Children's Workforce Development
Council (CWDC) took over responsibility from the DfES for
implementation of work collectively described as 'integrated
working': namely information sharing, the Common Assessment
Framework, the lead professional role, and multi-agency
working.
Later in the year and in 2007, the CWDC website
will be developed to support these areas, but in the mean
time all guidance and resources will remain on the Every
Child Matters website (www.ecm.gov.uk).
The CWDC is also planning a series of integrated
working regional events in late autumn. Details will be
posted on www.cwdcouncil.org.uk
when finalised.
(Sure Start News, 26.10.06)
The DfES has published its response to the
public consultation on the content of the Early Years Foundation
Stage framework (EYFS).
The consultation sought views on the draft
EYFS framework, and ran from 5 May to 28 July 2006. From
September 2008, the EYFS will be the phase of learning and
development for children between birth and the end of the
academic year in which they turn five. It will be implemented
in all registered early years settings and maintained and
independent schools. These settings will be required to
meet the learning, development and welfare requirements
in the supporting EYFS package, and to have regard to the
guidance associated with those requirements as appropriate.
This will ensure that all young children have
access to an integrated learning and care experience that
evidence shows enables them to achieve the best outcomes,
and gives parents the choice of a consistent quality offer
whichever setting their child attends. For more information,
visit www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/conResults.cfm?consultationId=1393
(Sure Start News, 26.10.06)
All nursery managers in Scotland will be required
to study for a degree-level qualification by 2011, the Scottish
Executive has revealed in its long-awaited response to the
early years workforce review. The announcement was accompanied
by an annual £5 million boost to help private and voluntary
sector providers to recruit and train qualified staff.
In the review, education minister Peter Peacock
set out his plans to introduce new qualifications for managers
up to degree level, a career structure for all nursery workers
and ongoing training and development. He said: "My long-term
ambition is for all centres to be led by early years and
childcare leaders who are qualified (including through a
professional development route) at SCQF level 9 (ordinary
degree or work-based equivalent)."
.Under the proposals, work will begin on
developing the new integrated qualifications framework in
September 2006 and the first managers will undertake the
new professional leadership level by September 2008. By
2011, all lead practitioners and managers will be required
to attain this level. The National Review of Early Years
and Childcare Workforce is available for consultation until
22 December at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/07/10140823/0.
(Nicole Weinstein, Nursery
World, 17.08.06)
The skills, knowledge and practical experience
that early years workers will need to meet to achieve Early
Years Professional Status (EYPS) have been outlined by the
Children's Workforce Development Council.
The CWDC's 32-page prospectus includes examples
of possible training routes for individuals who want to
achieve EYPS, which is equivalent to qualified teacher status.
Candidates will need to show that they meet a set of national
standards at level 6, the final version of which will be
published on 17 July.
The document sets out four pathways to achieving
EYPS based on qualifications and experience. Early years
workers need to have a degree or equivalent qualification
before they start on one of these routes. There are 9,300
possible places for EYPS training across these four routes
for training in 2006-2007.
The first phase of training for up to 600
candidates will start in September. They will follow the
fastest route to EYPS, the 'validation' or assessment-only
pathway, and can achieve EYPS by January 2007. A typical
candidate might be a qualified teacher employed by the local
authority to support early years settings, working in a
children's centre.
Candidates who have 'broadly relevant' experience
for EYPS but need more training or experience can follow
a short or long Extended Professional Development (EPD)
pathway. The short route would be relevant for someone who
is close to demonstrating the standards. They might have
a degree in Early Childhood Studies with experience of working
with nought to fives, or they might be a qualified primary
school teacher, with or without experience of working with
three to five-year-olds.
Those following the long EPD pathway might
have an early years foundation degree and experience of
working with under-fives, or a degree in an unrelated subject
with substantial experience of working with nought-to-fives;
or they could be someone with a vocational degree who has
worked in another role, for example, an experienced health
visitor.
The full-training pathway is 12 months for
candidates with a graduate-level qualification but limited
early years experience. The prospectus also gives more details
of funding. The CWDC has been allotted £51.8 million from
the Transformation Fund to cover the costs of developing
the training and for financial support to EYPS.
CWDC chief executive Jane Haywood said: "This
is an essential document for anyone interested in building
a career in early years. EYP status is set to help the sector
undergo a transformation, and we hope the prospectus will
show how it is achievable by people from a range of backgrounds."
The 'Early years professional prospectus' can be downloaded
at www.cwdcouncil.org.uk
(Catherine Gaunt, Nursery
World, 06.07.06)
Practitioners are faced
with balancing the concerns raised over the EYFS with using
it in the best interests of children. Simon Vevers reports.
A 'nappy curriculum', gross interference in
the rights of parents to bring up their children, another
example of the sinister workings of the nanny state. Perhaps
predictably, the publication of The
Early Years Foundation Stage: Consultation on a single quality
framework for services to children from birth to five
attracted a rash of lurid and misleading headlines. [.]
But, significantly, while some tabloid and
broadsheet newspapers railed against the document as a blueprint
for introducing children to formal education too early,
they were clearly not averse to the government imposing
more formal approaches on the teaching of reading through
synthetic phonics.
So, practitioners face the twin tasks of combating
alarm among parents about the government's plans and explaining
those key elements which help the sector, and resisting
pressure to introduce very young children to teaching methods
that may alienate them from reading rather than accelerate
their progress.
Bernadette Duffy, head of the Thomas Coram
Early Childhood Centre in Camden, says that while she understands
concerns over changes in early learning goals relating to
language and literacy, 'there are lots of things in the
consultation document that are really powerful'.
Unlike the national curriculum, the document
is underpinned by a strong set of principles, and section
three contains important material on how children learn,
how they perceive their learning and what practitioners
need to do, such as developing flexible routines.
Role of practitioners
[.] One of the key messages, she insists, is that the curriculum
is not a syllabus, or a programme of study, but is 'all
the things a child experiences in the setting'. It is not
a case of 'racing children through the early learning goals',
and the emphasis must be on sensitive adults 'tuned into
the needs of children as individuals'.
Peter Elfer, senior lecturer in early childhood
studies at Roehampton University, says that practitioners
need support in thinking about an implicit 'tension' in
their work, whether they have a quasi-parental role and
concentrate on children's emotional wellbeing, or they should
have 'a more learning-orientated view'.
Early years consultant Sally Barnes, a former
head and early years inspector, says parents are being 'grossly
manipulated', partly through the scare tactics of newspapers.
But she also believes the government often 'steals the language
of early years' to serve its own purposes in conveying messages
which are not in the best interests of young children or
those working with them. For example, she says, the Rose
Review referred to teachers using their professional judgement
and the need for a rich curriculum. Yet these admirable
aims are qualified at every turn by its endorsement of synthetic
phonics. [.]
She points out that children in most other
countries do not start school until they are six and their
brains and hearing are sufficiently developed to cope with
more formal approaches - 'ultimately, they learn to read
quicker and better,' she says. [.]
Varied experiences
Speaking in a personal capacity, Ms Miller [Thelma Miller
head of the Clyde early childhood centre in south-east London]
says that while the EYFS must be a supportive framework
for enabling practitioners to plan activities and meet children's
needs, it also has to take account of the varying circumstances
and specific levels of development of children. At times
in her centre, up to 85 per cent of the children may have
English as an additional language.
She, too, is perturbed by any proposals that
would undermine the current literacy strategy applied at
her centre, which is to give children rich and varied experiences
in communication up to the age of five. "We want them to
understand the relationship between print and the spoken
word and that communication takes many forms," says Ms Miller.
"Our children have two story times a day and we have a very
print-rich environment. The guidance before the Rose Review
was very good because it talked about children experimenting
with sounds and linking sounds and letters, but at the end
of the Foundation Stage, not at three or four."
Boys, in particular, need to see some purpose
to their reading, she says. "If we teach children by rote
when they are not ready, it takes away the joy of reading,
language and communication. There is a danger of giving
children what to them appear meaningless tasks of linking
sounds with letters, which will bore them and could turn
them off reading. Parents do look to practitioners for guidance
on these issues."
(Extracted from an article
by Simon Vevers in Nursery World, 29.06.06)
The government is consulting on the foundation
stage, which is a single framework for care, learning and
development.
Okay, just what comprises
'early years'? The preschool stage or, to be precise,
from birth to the August following a child's fifth birthday.
According to the government, that's the point at which a
child should be ready for school.
And what is the Early
Years Foundation Stage? A single framework for care,
learning and development which brings together the existing
curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, the national
standards for under-eights daycare and childminding, and
a modicum of Birth to Three Matters. All are linked to the
10-year strategy for childcare and provisions under the
Childcare Bill which, when enacted, will come into force
from September 2008.
Is this single framework
a good thing? The general view is yes, but the definition
of 'single' is interesting since the consultation consists
of around 10 different documents on the web, each an integral
part of the package.
What do they say?
Well, every framework has to begin with a set of overarching
principles. So the introduction refers to well-rehearsed
but essential statements, like the importance of parents
and families and, in early years settings, a key person.
Babies and young children are seen as competent learners
from birth, and learning through play is hugely important.
Good assessment is vital. Services have to be inclusive.
But there are some significant additions to these principles,
like the need to join up planning and delivery. And the
paper states that high-quality care will have the maximum
impact on a child's development.
Are we talking outcomes
for young children? The foundation stage is very
Every Child Matters, as is recognised in a draft poster
at the end of section 3 that places the areas of learning
and development within the five outcomes. And those areas
of learning and development cover a range of issues, from
personal, social and emotional development through to physical
and creative development.
So by the age of three,
my child should be able to explain the plot twists in Lost?
Or at least come up with the concept. It's about
individualised learning in a safe setting, going at that
child's speed but making sure that the early years worker
provides support that helps them to learn, communicate what
they are thinking and feeling, interact with others, and
continue to discover and engage with what's going on around
them. Or it would be, if the learning and development tables
were less prescriptive.
How is this to be done?
Sections 4 and 5 focus on how staff meet the welfare and
workforce requirements for early years; and how they should
meet the inspection requirements as well as work towards
improving the quality of the service. For example, practitioners
must have safeguarding policies and procedures in place,
and operate a healthy early years service. 'Healthy' considerations
range from the state of the premises to providing nutritious
food.
You mentioned quality
- what's that about? Quality improvement schemes
are in place in most local authorities. While inspection
will look at how well managed the setting is and whether
it contributes to helping children achieve their best (within
the outcomes framework), quality improvement suggests that
even the most successful services can and should continue
to improve.
(By Lisa Payne, policy
unit, National Children's Bureau, published in Children
Now, 21-27 June, 2006)
A new type of highly qualified early years
worker is taking the lead in Cheshire's children's centres.
Cheshire County Council has created a team of 'pedagogues'
to work in its phase one children's centres.
Lead pedagogue Cathy Hughes said the authority
was inspired by Denmark's social pedagogues when looking
at how to meet requirements for qualified teachers in centres.
"We wanted it to be a holistic role and broader than delivering
the maintained nursery teaching role," said Hughes.
The scheme started in September 2005 and there
are now six pedagogues supporting daycare services in centres.
There will be nine pedagogues by September this year. Most
are qualified teachers with at least five years' experience
of working in early years. And they have had extra training
on Birth to Three Matters.
Their role includes leading on early years
education, being a role model for staff, helping with planning,
and linking in with other children's professionals. The
pedagogues are also starting to take on a wider community
role, supporting other childcare settings in children's
centre areas.
Meanwhile the University of Chester is working
with Sure Start Cheshire to give trainee teachers the chance
to become early years specialists. Four trainees completed
their final teaching placements in nurseries, working alongside
pedagogues and qualified teachers. The trial is now being
evaluated. Debbie Williams, the university's partnership
manager, hoped it would be rolled out. "It's a brilliant
opportunity for our trainees and it fits in with the national
agenda for children's centres," she said. "It's a win-win
situation."
(Jo Stephenson, Children
Now, 14-20 June 2006)
Early years consultant Ros Bayley comments
on targets for toddlers in an article in the TES The major
stumbling block in terms of children's progress is the guidance
on communication, language and literacy. When learning goals
for this strand of the foundation curriculum were devised
back in 1999, the literacy lobby was very strong - it had
the personal backing of then education secretary David Blunkett.
In desperation to reach agreement and ensure the long-promised
guidance was released, early years experts were persuaded
to accept some decidedly 'aspirational' goals.
History has proved them wrong. As a result
of this decision - and despite the valiant efforts of many
excellent foundation-stage practitioners - many children,
forced to aim too high too soon, simply fail. And then they
give up. As Homer Simpson so memorably put it: "Kids, you've
tried your hardest and you failed miserably. The lesson
is: don't try."
It's bad enough that professional, hard-working
teachers now blame themselves when children fail to reach
the 'aspirational' targets. But the far greater evil is
that many children - especially boys - now fail in the literacy
stakes before they've even begun. And please don't turn
round and accuse Sue [Sue Palmer, co-author of Foundation
of Literacy], me or my early years colleagues of
having low expectations. All we ask is that the goals are
developmentally appropriate.
In order to understand what such goals might
be, you need to understand young children. Many KS2 people
out there still don't know that the early learning goals
being forced on their future pupils are wildly in appropriate.
And, put bluntly, they don't know that they don't know.
(Incidentally, literacy colleagues - before you take a gun
to my head, I'm happy to admit that there are many things
about literacy that I don't know I don't know, as Sue regularly
reminds me).
At the moment, there is real confusion about
what is right for the youngest children in our society,
and unless professionals work together to achieve clarity,
the forces of ignorance will move into the space. So practitioners
across the foundation and primary sectors need to understand
how children are best taught at different stages - and why.
(Extracted from an article
in TES, 26.05.06)
The foundation stage - famous for its 117-box
ticklist - and its sister strategy for babies to three year
olds, together with an array of guidance and goals for young
children are to be reborn as a single framework.
It was five years ago that the guidance for
teaching three to five-year-olds was published and three
years since the principles for working with under-threes
were introduced. Now ministers want to find out from early
years teachers what works best in nurseries and how the
frameworks can better dovetail with key stage 1.
The 117-box ticklist will stay. Lesley Staggs,
director of the foundation stage in the primary national
strategy team, said existing guidance will not be ripped
up, but did need to be simplified.
She said: "We want to make clearer the links
between the two core documents: Birth to Three Matters and
the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage. We do
not think it is a good idea to start all over again, but
what does make sense is to help people see more clearly
how these two documents work together, particularly in early
years settings which cater for children from birth to four
or five, where there is an overlap."
Ministers want the two documents brought together
under a new birth to five framework.
(By Helen Ward, TES, 05.08.05)
Children at risk of being placed on the child
protection register or of illness could be missed if health
visitors are detached from general practices, warn GPs.
Primary care organisations are increasingly
relocating health visitors, traditionally based at GP practices,
to community-based units known as
geographical teams. Some have also been moved to target
areas of need under the Sure Start programme. But at the
British Medical Association's national conference for local
medical committees, which represent GPs across the country,
GPs voted overwhelmingly that health visitors and district
nurses 'should always be attached to practices'.
GPs unanimously supported motions to 'deplore
the move towards the separation, both physically and managerially,
of nursing and other teams from general practice'. Dr Kebsi
Naidoo, chairman of Sefton Medical Committee, one of the
committees that raised the motion, said GPs feared child
protection concerns or illness could be missed if health
visitors were separated from primary care health teams.
(By Asha Goveas, Children
Now, 22-28 June 2005)
The Scottish Parliament needs to take control
of early years and childcare funding, say campaigners contributing
to a major inquiry into the country's early years provision.
Children in Scotland chief executive Bronwen Cohen said:
"Early years is a developing area for Scotland, but some
of our policies and funding comes through Westminster."
She cited a 'scattergun' approach to funding
that was getting in the way of providing an integrated,
simple service structure. She also claimed that it was 'absolutely
essential' that the Scottish Parliament committed to its
own 10-year childcare plan. "Scotland should have its own
plan and develop its own clear vision. Scotland used to
be a pioneer for education-led, child-centred services,
and we would hope the Scottish Parliament is going to restore
Scotland's position," she said.
Her comments follow evidence that was submitted
to the Scottish Parliament education committee's early years
inquiry by a range of groups..Nearly half of the submissions
to the committee so far raise issues around the development
of teachers and the childcare workforce, and the availability
of choice, which included concerns over a lack of provision
outside standard hours and in rural areas. The complexity
and short term nature of funding is also cited as a concern,
along with the need to better support and involve parents.
(By Fay Schopen, Children
Now, 1-7 June 2005)
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