Further information
* Transformation Fund Guidance and 'Frequently asked questions concerning the Transformation Fund' can be viewed at: www.everychild matters.gov.uk
Having pored over the guidance to the Transformation Fund, local authority workforce development managers are now trying to work out how it can be effectively deployed, both to boost the number of graduates in early years settings and to improve the qualifications of other staff.
As often seems to be the case when the Government rolls out a new initiative, there is little time for local authorities to carry out urgently needed consultation among practitioners to establish how many will want to apply for the various strands of funding.
While the fund is welcomed, the guidance has not dispelled all confusion about how it will operate. There are widespread concerns about sustainability, with local authorities and practitioners wondering how settings will be able to fund the employment of graduates in the long term and where the supply of them will come from in the short term.
The Transformation Fund, which will provide 250m between April 2006 and August 2008, consists of four elements:
* a recruitment incentive of 3,000 in each year for private, voluntary and independent (PVI) full daycare settings to take on a graduate
* a quality premium of 5,000 for settings which already have a graduate and to help boost the qualifications of other staff
* money for training staff to level 3 and above
* funds for disability and special educational needs training.
Each local authority has been allocated a level of funding for 2006-07 and been given an indicative figure for 2007-08. In addition to the guidance on the fund, and almost certainly following requests for clarification, the Government has posted 'Frequently asked questions concerning the Transformation Fund' on the Every Child Matters website (see 'Further information').
This document states that 2007-08 allocations will be finalised 'in the light of evidence provided by local authorities in September about the number of providers eligible for the recruitment incentive and the quality premium and the estimated level of demand in 2007-08'.
The DfES also says that it will be up to local authorities how they allocate the fund, but that they should give 'the highest priority to the recruitment incentive and the quality premium strands, as these will contribute to the PVI sector raising the qualification levels of their professional leaders to early years professional status'.
Yet all indications so far suggest that most authorities recognise that fulfilling the Government's goal of getting a graduate into every setting by 2015 is a long-term aspiration, and that they will want to use much of their allocation to boost qualifications from level 3 upwards.
Clearer guidance
Anxiety over cost is fuelled by the knowledge that the future of the Transformation Fund is far from secure and will depend on the outcome of the 2007 comprehensive spending review. Practitioners want a guaranteed flow of funds to be on tap, not just to be drip-fed money for two years.
The Government offers nothing concrete to allay these fears, merely stating in the Frequently Asked Questions document that 'a better-qualified workforce with improved prospects is likely to be more stable and reduce the costs to employers of high turnover. Better-quality provision and wider recognition among parents of good quality should help to attract and retain more children, leading to higher occupancy rates and more efficient and sustainable businesses'.
Norma Hardy, head of early years and childcare in Sunderland, says that her local authority is producing a simplified version of the guidance, because she believes the Government's is far from clear. The regional Government office in the north-east is also holding a seminar to help council officials and practitioners navigate their way through the intricacies of the fund.
Ms Hardy says, 'The Transformation Fund may raise quality in the long term if it shifts the culture in the private and voluntary sector into accepting that they can afford graduates. But providers are wary about taking something on which will commit them for the future.'
Ana Simons, workforce strategy manager for Devon County Council, says the council's helpline has fielded 'virtually no enquiries' about the Transformation Fund because providers are not yet aware of it. She expects only a handful of large settings already employing a graduate to apply for the quality premium in the first year.
The number of settings applying for the recruitment incentive is likely to be under 20, partly because there are not enough graduates with the right experience to employ. The council also recognises that since many managers of settings have a level 3 qualification, recruitment of a graduate is 'a daunting prospect' and many in the PVI sector lack the skills to do it.
Eileen Bagshaw, workforce development manager for Derbyshire early years and childcare service, says practitioners were enthusiastic about the possible uses of the fund when they attended a half-day seminar recently.
She adds, 'If we are going to make it work, providers have to take ownership of the scheme, and we will be continuing to involve them in our planning and discussions.'
But Ms Bagshaw says there was also concern among practitioners 'about what happens when the Transformation Fund finishes and they have appointed staff on particular levels of salary and how they will manage to pay them without increasing levels of fees to parents'.
Derbyshire expects to have around ten settings applying for the recruitment incentive, with about 100 people doing foundation degrees, 50 seeking level 4 qualifications and 200 at level 3. She says Derbyshire was 'ahead of the game', as it already funds level 3 training and foundation degrees out of the General Sure Start grant.
Ana Simons says the task of building up the graduate workforce by enhancing the qualifications of existing staff is a long-term process. With this in mind, Devon will be devoting a sizeable chunk of the 750,000 it is receiving this year to supporting those qualifying from level 3 upwards.
Ms Simons says the main reason people fail to complete their early years qualifications is because they have to do them in their own time. If they do them in working hours, they lose money and their setting cannot afford cover for their absence, contributing to a high drop-out rate.
Her authority is reimbursing practitioners if they lose money through training on condition that they achieve their qualification units. Devon has also set up a qualifications consortium - 'a support network for sharing good practice' - which is looking at giving bonuses to assessors when their candidates achieve a qualification.
However, not everyone buys into the Government's plans to boost training through the Transformation Fund. Stuart Bright, owner of two nurseries in Lincolnshire, believes the proposals are mere 'window dressing' which will 'make no difference'.
He says steps need to be taken first to overhaul the NVQs, as he sees a lot of 'poor-quality students' emerging from colleges at levels 2 and 3. He stresses that he is not denigrating the people concerned but rather 'the delivery side of it'. He adds, 'They are not tackling the core problems facing the sector.'
Mr Bright is sceptical about the benefits of each setting having a graduate-level professional, arguing that the current system in his county of using peripatetic teachers works well, as they 'have the benefit of seeing a variation of settings'.
June O'Sullivan, chief executive of the Westminster Children's Society, questions whether enabling people to get graduate qualifications guarantees quality. She asks, 'Is one of my settings with a team of five very experienced, knowledgeable staff who have undergone regular continuous professional development, going to be enhanced by the acquisition of a brand-new early years graduate? For quality you need more staff, higher levels of engagement, and interested, capable staff, rather than necessarily a graduate qualification.'
Costs and results
The National Day Nurseries Association regards the Transformation Fund as 'a positive step' but is concerned that there should be 'a consistent approach across all local authorities in how it is distributed to ensure that maximum benefit is achieved'.
Chief executive Purnima Tanuku says that nurseries receiving the recruitment incentive when they initially employ a graduate will struggle to pay the costs of advertising, and developing and training a graduate, especially if an individual leaves and has to be replaced.
'We also question how nurseries who are using some of the allocated quality premium to boost staff wages will be able to demonstrate this has directly supported retention,' she adds.
However, Pamela Torry, part of the management team at the Promises Day Nursery in Chesterfield, who is also an ex-head teacher and an associate lecturer in early childhood studies at Sheffield Hallam University, says that her setting feels 'very passionately about having staff who are properly qualified'.
The nursery has been supporting a member of staff to get an early childhood studies degree, giving Hallam University 200 towards her fees and allowing time off to attend lectures.
Ms Torry says the benefit of graduate-level study is 'all the background knowledge and the in-depth study of play, and having a broad perspective on what's going on in the world of early years to help improve practice.'
