Nursery World - Functional Skills campaign to stave off 'catastrophe' of GCSEs

Functional skills should be reinstated for Level 3s because of the ‘catastrophic’ impact of current policies on recruitment, an awarding body has said.

A campaign, Save our Early Years, has been launched by CACHE, with backing from the likes of the Pre-school Learning Alliance and PACEY. It calls ‘for the Government to reverse its decision that all Level 3 Early Years Educators (EYEs) must have at least a Grade C in GCSE English and maths to count in the ratios - with no equitable alternative at Level 2 such as Functional Skills allowed.’

The campaign has been launched today (5 April) on social media, with supporters urged to write to Education Secretary Nicky Morgan and raise the campaign’s profile on Twitter.

The GCSE regulations have hit apprentice numbers particularly hard, with trainers reporting year on year drops of up to 96 per cent in the number of level 3 apprentices starting the course. CACHE, which has a majority share of the childcare qualifications market, has told Nursery World that the number of registrations for Level 3 courses dropped 44 per cent year-on-year for 2014/15.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included