The development of the common core is well on its way and should be complete in the next few weeks. It has been developed in consultation and agreement with a range of sectors including childcare, education, health, Government and agencies, parenting and families, social care and affairs, youth and play. What children, families and young people want themselves is at the heart of the research that has taken place.
What is the common core?
The common core covers six areas of expertise which everyone working with children, young people and families (including those working as volunteers) should be able to demonstrate. It is designed to represent the minimum skills and knowledge required within the children's workforce.
The common core also reflects a set of common values for practitioners that promote equality, respect diversity and challenge stereotypes, helping to improve the life chances of children and young people and to provide more effective and integrated services. Although the common core is still under development and may change, it currently includes:
* Effective communication and engagement with children, young people and their families and carers. This covers communication and engagement in all its forms, for example listening, building empathy, questioning, summarising and explaining, consulting and negotiating, understanding and responding. It takes into account the child and family culture and context, including where English is an additional language. This area also covers respect, honesty, trust and continuity in relationships.
* Child and young person development. This common core area covers the physical, intellectual, linguistic, social and emotional growth and development of babies, children and young people. It includes observation and making judgements, knowing how children develop, having empathy and understanding, encouraging and motivating, being clear about your own job role and how to refer concerns.
* Safeguarding children and promoting the welfare of the child. This area is about making considered judgements and how to act to safeguard children.
It includes communication, recording and reporting and knowledge of laws, policies and procedures in local areas as well as nationally. It covers how to refer concerns and access appropriate support.
* Supporting transitions. This area covers the stages or transitions children and young people pass through as a natural part of growth and development, such as moving schools. It also includes personal transitions not shared by all, such as family illness or death. The area focuses on recognising and understanding the types of transitions experienced by children, young people, families and carers, providing appropriate support and knowing when to intervene.
* Multi-agency working. This area is about different services and agencies working together to meet the needs of children, young people, carers and families. It requires skills in communication, assertiveness and teamwork.
* Sharing information. This area focuses on sharing accurate information at the right time. It includes handling information, how and who to share it with, communicating information clearly in an atmosphere of trust, and the laws and policies affecting information and data protection.
What does this mean for already qualified practitioners?
Although the final version of the common core is still not published, some broad mapping has been done of existing occupational standards for the children's workforce. Most qualified practitioners who work with children in their early years in partnership with families will have covered much of the common core within their training, and many experienced workers will have already demonstrated an ability to work in line with its requirements.
The common core will provide practitioners who already know and do much of what is outlined by the requirements with a basis upon which they can both judge the quality of their work and identify areas for further development. But the children's workforce is diverse, and some further learning and training may be necessary for some people.
What will this mean for future training and qualifications?
It is difficult to see the full extent of how future training and qualifications will be affected by the common core, but it is likely to have a major impact. This depends to some extent on the development of a flexible and integrated workforce and the breaking down of traditional barriers between parts of the workforce. If everyone who works with children shares a common core of training and they understand and respect one another, it is much more likely that new qualification and career pathways will be opened up and some of the unnecessary and inflexible barriers to qualifications and jobs in other parts of the children's sector will be removed.
Potentially, routes into professions such as teaching, children's nursing or social work should be much clearer and more accessible for any member of the children's workforce. This will take time to work through the various systems and require a commitment by gatekeepers of training, career pathways and qualifications to remove existing obstacles, but is a hopeful move for early years practitioners, who will be part of a much bigger and more diverse 'children's workforce' .
It is understood that the common core could be accredited within or alongside an NVQ and will not remove the need for more detailed specialist competences for specific job roles.
The common core provides a basic description of essentials which should be adapted and enhanced for use in different services and differentiated, as appropriate, to recognise that in some jobs very specific knowledge may be required, particularly in areas such as child development and safeguarding.
The common core will appear within qualifications and training at different levels according to the requirements of employers and other stakeholders.
New draft occupational standards at Levels 2, 3 and 4 in 'Children's Care, Learning and Development', developed in response to the revision of the early years care and education standards, list all the knowledge and understanding for most of the standards under similar headings to the common core. The common core is well covered by these and other newly revised occupational standards, although there are gaps in some standards around the age ranges of the children.
What could this mean for the future?
The common core areas of knowledge and skills could:-
* be integrated into revisions of occupational standards and qualifications frameworks at the appropriate level
* be used as a basis for developing more effective and integrated services built with people who have a common understanding of how services can achieve better outcomes
* encourage partnership working among individuals and agencies
* provide a tool for workforce planning, for example job descriptions, recruitment selection criteria and performance management
* be used as a guide to the design of induction and in-service training, building on existing best practice
* guide training needs analyses focused on supporting personal and professional development.
What are the next steps? Log on to www.dfes.gov.uk/commoncore to check information on the development of the common core, and www.dfes.gov.uk/childrensworkforce for further information about children, young people and families services and practice. NW It is not clear how people who work directly and solely with children and families will be affected by the common core as opposed to those who have work with children as a secondary aspect of their jobs. This is likely to be determined by employers and other influences such as regulation.
