The NTOs are being replaced by a smaller number of larger Sector Skills Councils, which will also be UK-wide. A bid for one for the early years submitted by the Council for Awards in Childcare and Education (CACHE), the parent body of the Early Years NTO, was rejected last December.
The Department for Education and Skills in Westminster funded a consultant's report on ways forward for the early years, which included submitting a joint bid in partnership with SPRITO, the training organisation for sports and recreation, including playwork, or TOPSS, the Training Organisation for Personal and Social Services.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Social Services Council has submitted a joint bid with TOPSS in England, the Northern Ireland Care Council and the Care Council for Wales, to create a UK-wide sector skills council for care. The functions of TOPSS in Scotland were taken over by the Scottish Social Services Council when it was formally established in October 2001.
The Scottish Social Services Council is responsible for raising standards in the social services workforce, including early years, and regulating related education and training.
Raymond Taylor, head of learning and development at the council, said its partners in the bid for a care sector skills council had been asked to do some additional work on the proposal, including deciding upon the 'footprint' - the characteristics of the workforce it will cover. This means clarifying whether it includes early years workers.
He said, 'In Scotland, it's relatively easy for our organisation to relate to early years, as our sister organisation, the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care, inspects early years services. In England that's the responsibility of Ofsted. Care sector and early years employers need to come together to decide upon the best way forward.'
He said the Scottish Social Services Council has been given funding to employ a learning and development officer with a background in early years, who will help to inform this process.
Elizabeth Murdoch, training officer for the Scottish Childminding Association, said, 'It would seem only natural that the Scottish Social Services Council would have the responsibility for training and development of the workforce, but no statement has been made and everything's in limbo.
Scottish vocational qualifications are due for revision - who will take responsibility for that? The workforce is already feeling very unsure with the new care standards. Somebody needs to say what's happening and who will have responsibility. There's a need for direction that must come from the top.'
Ian McLaughlan, chief executive of the Scottish Pre-school Play Association, said, 'Progress is very slow. The four nations need to get their heads together and hammer out a way forward. We were very disappointed that the CACHE bid to facilitate setting up a sector skills council for early years was rejected.
'I think providers are quite clear now that the regulatory body is the Care Commission, and that the Scottish Social Services Council will be regulating workers. What is unclear is, where does a sector skills council fit in? That's quite complex.'
