The aim of the service is to make it easier for managers and owners to check whether an employee or prospective employee’s UK qualifications are ‘full and relevant’ and whether they can count in ratios at Level 2, 3 or 6.
It is designed to replace the existing EYQL(Early Years Qualifications List) spreadsheet, which providers say can be difficult to navigate, does not always provide a definitive answer, and does not provide meaningful next steps when a qualification is found to be not ‘full and relevant’.
It follows calls to make the early years qualifications list simpler to understand.
Nursery World reported over two years ago that some practitioners and managers were even unaware the list exists.
The new Service is designed to help the DfE meets its commitment to increase the workforce by 40,000 by September to deliver the final phase of the expanded offer.
To use the Service, nursery managers/owners have to input where a qualification was awarded, the date the qualification was started and awarded, the level of the qualification and the awarding organisation, before receiving an answer as to whether the qualification is ‘full and relevant’ and the level at which employees or prospective employees can be counted in ratios.
Early education minister Stephen Morgan said, ‘High-quality early education is central to our mission to break the unfair link between background and opportunity – and that starts with experienced educators.
‘Through our Plan for Change, we are rolling out new training pathways to deliver an early years system that drives outcomes for families and providers, upskilling educators to give every child the best start in life.
‘This new tool will harness the power of technology to modernise early years, making it easier than ever for managers to make sure their workforce have the qualifications and experience needed so thousands more children start school ready to learn.’
