Due to a shortage of NVQ assessors in Cardiff, I was only finally able to make a start on my NVQ Level 3 in playwork in January 2003. I was dismayed, therefore, when my college told me last September that I would now have to pay the remaining fees of 165 to be able to continue the course, due to a Government change in the funding policies, so it will now cost a new candidate 800 to undertake an NVQ. I have been in playwork since 1997 and have seen both an increase in after-school clubs and demand for qualified staff. Since legislation requires that 50 per cent of staff should be qualified, I do not see why I should have to pay for this qualification. I agree that all playworkers should be qualified to at least NVQ Level 2 in playwork. But it should not be funded by the playworker - the Government requires us to obtain these qualifications yet refuses to provide the funding for them.
Due to a shortage of NVQ assessors in Cardiff, I was only finally able to make a start on my NVQ Level 3 in playwork in January 2003. I was dismayed, therefore, when my college told me last September that I would now have to pay the remaining fees of 165 to be able to continue the course, due to a Government change in the funding policies, so it will now cost a new candidate 800 to undertake an NVQ.
I have been in playwork since 1997 and have seen both an increase in after-school clubs and demand for qualified staff. Since legislation requires that 50 per cent of staff should be qualified, I do not see why I should have to pay for this qualification. I agree that all playworkers should be qualified to at least NVQ Level 2 in playwork. But it should not be funded by the playworker - the Government requires us to obtain these qualifications yet refuses to provide the funding for them.
By the Government's refusal to provide funding, playwork will still be seen as a second-rate profession that students, nursery nurses and newly qualified teachers do to earn some extra money. I have seen this happen in many of the settings I have worked in and feel that sometimes the children get short-changed. One of the reasons for playworkers having qualifications is to make it into a profession in its own right and to make sure that all play settings are run to the same high standards.
Playwork is not an easy job to do, nor does it pay the household bills. But to keep standards high the Government must ensure that funding is there for those who want to be seen as qualified playworkers and as a profession in its own right.
Tracey Newman
Cardiff
