Montessori childcarers in England were assured last week that their qualifications would be recognised under the national standards for daycare.
The reassurance was given by both the Department for Education and Skills and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), as there had been on-going confusion over the validity of Montessori qualifications because a submission has not yet been made to the QCA for them to be recognised under the early years framework. The DfES and the QCA are in the process of drawing up a list of accredited qualifications in line with the National Childcare Strategy.
A QCA spokesman said, 'We would welcome any submission for a Montessori qualification. However, to date we have received no such submissions to be accredited to the national framework.'
A DfES spokeswoman added, 'We have given an assurance that those who have Montessori qualifications will be able to continue to practise under the daycare standards initiative. They will not be required to hold a qualification accredited in the National Qualifications Framework at least until further policy reviews have been undertaken, and Montessori would be invited to join that consultation.'
She added that there were no immediate plans to review policy, but that evaluation would be sought in the long term.
Barbara Isaacs, chief executive of Montessori Centre International, said, 'You have to understand that we have never worked in the mainstream, but the DfES has no problem in acknowledging the qualifications. We have received assurance, both from the DfES and the QCA, that Montessori is on the accepted list.'
Ms Isaacs said that the Montessori awarding bodies had agreed to work together and to submit all their training courses to inspection under the Montessori Education UK course accreditation scheme.
The DfES spokeswoman confirmed the existence of a separate list 'to identify qualifications in early years care and education and play work which are acceptable for employment in group care settings and which do not appear within the National Qualifications Framework.'
The document, Qualifications in early years care, education and playwork: Acceptability for group daycare settings, was compiled in September 2001 when the Government introduced the new national standards for under-eights daycare in England. But the document said the list did not imply that the qualifications on it lacked quality, although some may not meet the national framework requirements.
