They told him they were concerned that the new diploma would not provide the necessary level of skills for candidates who could go on to work in Flying Start, early years support for under-threes.
UCU said the criteria for the new level 3 could lead to students with no academic qualifications working unsupervised with children in nurseries after only 12 weeks' experience in one setting.
Shan Bowen, a lecturer in childcare at the School of Care and Childhood Studies at Coleg Morgannwg, Rhondda Cynon Taff, said, 'With the new level 3 you could end up with someone who is barely literate with just one placement in an out-of-school club - which is vastly different from working in a nursery - who would have a licence to practise in a school or nursery. We're very concerned about safety issues and qualifications. You cannot assume that one placement is sufficient.'
Meetings have taken place with representatives of the Care Council for Wales, UCU and the Welsh Assembly and a proposal put forward that only practitioners already working in an early years setting or mature students on a modern apprenticeship would be eligible for the new diploma.
Ms Bowen said, 'We argue the level 3 diploma should not be available for 16- to 19-year-olds.'
Meanwhile, the Assembly government has set up a working party with representatives from CACHE and Edexcel, the Care Council, and UCU, to develop a new extended level 3 diploma as a two-year full-time course with UCAS points.
Ms Bowen said, 'We're hoping to get the funding for a new extended diploma, which would have the same number of taught hours (1,100) and placements as the current level 3.'
She added, 'We want a range of placements at different settings, so students get the experience of working with babies, oneto three-year-olds and fourto seven-year olds.'
