Thousands of new playworkers are needed to staff the boom in out-of-school clubs, but they will have to be the right people, says Anne Wiltsher
What is the difference between a playworker and a childcarer? asked one of the speakers at a conference last month on building an out-of-school workforce. 'Even lower wages,' a cynic might be tempted to answer.
Certainly, the two areas of work are dogged by the same factors: low pay and status, exacerbated in the case of playwork (working with children aged from five to 14) by odd part-time hours, which do nothing to attract talented new people into the sector. Playwork receives even less recognition than early years work, mainly because the public doesn't know what it is.
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