Given the recruitment crisis facing the sector, promoting the early years to the next generation is becoming an increasingly important way of reaching new recruits. And there are new tools to help managers do this.
The Early Years Workforce Strategy identified various barriers to staff progression and recruitment in the early years. Some are hard to solve, such as low pay, but one was a lack of recognition and promotion of early years as a desirable career to the wider workforce.
So what pre-made resources are out there to help time-poor managers do this?
One is a new website, launched last month, for those in the sector, plus careers advisers, schools and colleges, to use to promote the early years both to those working within it and prospective new entrants.
‘Choosing Early Years as a Career’ (see Further information for the link) is hosted by awarding body CACHE, and contains case studies and descriptions of job profiles for different levels, from unqualified worker up to QTS, with specialist roles such as SENCo, PANCo (physical activity and nutritional co-ordinator), school support and higher education pathways all detailed.
The jobs profiled include the little-known Early Years Senior Practitioner and Early Years Lead Practitioner at Level 6, which are expected to become new apprenticeship standards in future.
A career progression map shows how someone can go from unqualified through Levels 2 and 3, and either branch off into an early years specialism (such as SENCo) or a higher education route, and into assessor or local authority roles, or stay in a setting and continue through to manager or a graduate practitioner – although it does not show where an Early Years Senior Practitioner (a Level 5 qualification) fits in.
As well as these text documents, there are 14 video case studies: men and women of different ages working as practitioners in a variety of settings, as well as Early Years Teachers and childminders.
There is also an introduction document written for those with little experience or knowledge of the early years, which touches on the EYFS and safeguarding, sets out a list of desirable attributes that candidates need, and describes the types of employment available.
Who was it created by?
It was created by the panel working on the Level 2 qualification criteria, which involved CACHE, City & Guilds, Pre-School Learning Alliance, PACEY, NDNA and the University of Northampton, and was co-ordinated by the Department for Education.
How to use it
The NDNA’s Stella Ziolkowski says, ‘This is a good starting point for practitioners, both new entrants and those already working in the sector, to understand the direction of travel they can expect.’
Eunice Lumsden, head of early years at the University of Northampton, suggests sending the link to local schools and FE colleges and using it when sitting down with staff, or even students, to discuss their career options.
She says the map is about keeping people in the early years by showing them the richness of options available to them. ‘A good manager wants to grow their own staff. When you see someone [e.g. a new member of staff] who you think has capacity, we want to be able to show them there might also be other options for when they are at a different stage in their career – to specialise, for example. This is an opportunity to do that.’
Other initiatives to promote early years
The Education and Employers Charity (EEC) runs an ‘inspiring the future’ programme that encourages sector volunteers to go into schools and colleges to speak to students about their careers.
The aim is to raise awareness among students about careers they may not have considered previously. EEC matches schools and colleges with volunteers from a range of sectors via a free online match-making platform. Volunteers can register online and select a number of areas of expertise they think would be of interest to students. The expected commitment from volunteers is one hour per year.
Teachers then register their school or college on the platform and give some details about what they want to do.
Childcare company Tinies has linked in with the EEC to encourage people working in the sector to volunteer on the match-making platform. Beverly Munden, franchise manager at Tinies, has urged nurseries to get involved.
She says, ‘At a recent speed networking event we set out to challenge stereotypes around childcare, with about 30 volunteers, with a mix of ages and both male and female. We talked about different aspects of childcare – if you have business acumen, you could be a setting manager where you have to balance budgets. Millennials are looking for a job where they can make a difference, so we also stress how essential childcare is to the economy.’
She adds, ‘Those in a childcare setting might not feel confident standing up and talking, but we are just talking about an hour a year to chat informally to a group of six or seven children. It is also a good staff development opportunity to promote the world of working in childcare.’
Further information
Choosing Early Years as a Career https://bit.ly/2OlfD2q
Inspiring the Future, https://bit.ly/2npfDD7
Tinies, https://bit.ly/2KcMIeI
See our new series on recruitment: part 1, https://bit.ly/2svHEMq and part 2, https://bit.ly/2MdmOfG
