There is no doubt that the early years sector faces a recruitment and retention issue. There has been a 94 per cent growth in the sector since 1997, increasing competition for staff in an already squeezed sector. In the last year 59 per cent of nurseries had trouble recruiting.
This is about to get worse. To meet the Government's expansion plans an extra 300,000 childcare staff are required over the next few years, of which 50 per cent must have NVQ Level 3, or equivalent.
High-quality staff are essential to cope with the increasingly complex work, including networking across sectors, while providing care and education in an inclusive environment.
But according to the Department for Education and Skills Workforce Audit 2002 most staff in UK early years settings are young women with low educational qualifications. Seventy per cent are under 30 and most have no children of their own. It is therefore likely that a high proportion will become mothers in the next five years and return to work part time or not at all.
Reasons for leaving
Low pay was cited in the audit as a reason for leaving childcare. Staff are paid well below the national average and few have occupational pensions.
Poor management was also given as a key reason for leaving. Management shortcomings included:
* poor planning and staff supervision
* inadequate time for preparation, discussion and administration
* allowing poor childcare practices
* required but unpaid attendance at meetings
* overtime at short notice
* lack of consideration of staff personal needs.
The point was also made that many nurseries were small workplaces where the atmosphere is greatly affected by group dynamics.
Staff cited high turnover as a source of unhappiness. They valued teamwork and communication, linking these to high levels of job satisfaction. They found high turnover and frequent use of agency staff (on average 23 per cent of staff are agency at any one time in London nurseries) demotivating.
Encouraging retention
Training was seen as an important retention factor. Staff believed it:
* improved communication between workers and clients
* helped staff do the job better
* gave greater confidence
* increased knowledge
* lowered stress levels, burn-out and sickness
* improved morale, job satisfaction and team working
* improved service delivery.
Gaining qualifications also benefited staff confidence and self-esteem, especially those with poor educational achievements.
But many candidates found courses poorly organised, little was accredited and the teaching varied in quality. A failure to create a learning environment in the nursery setting also contributed to poor retention. Many nurseries identified a lack of cover to release staff to attend training.
Improving training
According to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), two million people have completed NVQ awards and more than three million are working towards them.
The QCA found that employers using the National Standards to define their service do gain employee motivation. However, research by Brighton University Health and Social Policy Research Centre found that childcare workers were sceptical about NVQs as qualifications because of disparities in standards.
A national survey of training providers was carried out to see how NVQs were delivered in the workplace. The most popular and valued learning was considered to be hands-on experience. Candidates valued coaching to help them apply new learning in the workplace.
To make NVQs better candidates requested:
* better induction and feedback
* individual learning plans with clear targets
* less jargon and repetition
* tutorial support
* regular reviews.
Completion was significantly influenced by personal factors and depended on a balance of employer support, candidate's personal circumstances and candidate attitude.
The DfES Childcare Survey 2001 found that childcare providers' support for NVQ training varied and appeared to be closely related to regulatory requirements. Some nurseries had a policy of recruiting staff at trainee rates with the aim of training them to NVQ levels 2 or 3 to meet the required proportion of qualified staff.
Other settings tended to regard qualifications as optional and varied in the extent to which they would fund such training and allow staff to do coursework in work time. Overall, it would seem that most of the NVQ training appears to be done by day nurseries, using young staff paid at trainee rates.
In terms of Ofsted requirements, this may not be an issue as all staff have to meet minimum standards and there is an expectation that senior staff have an appropriate level of skills and experience. However, only 50 per cent of staff need be qualified and unqualified staff need only work to NVQ Level 2 - a debatable position given the weight of evidence which suggests that the quality of the provision is equal to the quality of staff.
Our experience
Westminster Children's Society (WCS) is a charity which provides low-cost daycare to 350 families in 12 centres across Westminster. Ninety staff care for children aged between six months and five years, 51 weeks a year.
WCS decided to address the recruitment problem head on and introduced an NVQ trainee scheme in 1999. Trainees are employed to work in the nurseries with a contractual requirement to complete their NVQ in Early Years Care and Education Level 3 Award. Trainees have a work-based assessor and a coach to guide their progress. They attend a programme of twilight training (4.30-6.30pm) 45 weeks a year to introduce them to key underpinning theories.
The trainees, many who have little or no childcare experience, tend to take nearly three years to achieve their qualifications. We try to encourage them to spend the first three to six months coming to grips with nursery life before starting training.
Ninety per cent of candidates liked the work-based learning. They felt they learned more in the work environment, but had trouble making the NVQ process and work become one, often splitting their views and separating nursery life into NVQ units. This meant an inability to use opportunities for holistic assessment across units.
Twenty per cent found working with inexperienced assessors more problematic and time consuming and preferred to have the same assessor throughout. This situation was usually caused when staff moved on and a new assessor took on the candidate. Assessors preferred one candidate per setting as they all assess on top of their jobs.
Everyone agreed that it was hard work and portfolio-building took time, effort and motivation. There were definite patterns to motivation and everyone came to a plateau about unit four.
Completing similar units together was a successful model, for example the units about planning the curriculum and routine were a logical pair.
Staff all appreciated the study skills, report writing and organisational support as well as access to the WCS library and computers. They wanted more study skills workshops at an earlier stage to help them embed their action-planning.
Finally, little targets and motivators worked wonders. The prospect of a night out or a treat helped them move forward and complete a unit.
Story so far
Seventy per cent of our trainees have completed their awards and of those 50 per cent are still with us. The main reasons for leaving were getting married and moving away, non-returnees from maternity leave, long overseas travel and change of career.
But the recruitment problem is likely to continue. Internal and external competition for good quality staff remains intense. Childcare will have to battle it out with other sectors for the best staff. The quality of the service remains linked to the quality of the staff. So the hunt is on for the best.
We set up a Recruitment and Retention Working Group to find ways of making WCS more attractive to staff. Conditions of service such as increased holidays, more flexibility in hours, secondments, improved promotion prospects and more help for staff with children were considered. However, there are financial constraints to be considered when looking at the costs of improvements, and generating revenue remains a challenge.
But as competition for staff looks set to continue, organisations need to consider their pay scales, flexi-time and some approaches to family- friendly working may contribute to retention. Training as a means of retention emerges as significant and therefore organisations must give careful thought to this. NW
June O'Sullivan is operations and training manager at Westminster Children's Society
