Analysis: Welcome reprieve but sector still frustrated

The last-minute temporary reprieve for popular childcare qualifications, announced by the Children's Workforce Development Council, has been welcomed across the early years sector. But the welcome is tinged with frustration and irritation that despite lobbying by the awarding bodies and colleges, the CWDC only acted after a report from the qualification regulator, OfQual.

From January 1 the new Level 2 Certificate/Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce, championed by the CWDC, were to have become the sole qualifications for new learners for the purposes of registration and regulation. However, following the intervention of OfQual, CWDC announced that the date has been postponed for 12 months and qualifications that were to have been superseded have been reprieved until January 2012 (see box).

CWDC was forced to act because OfQual found that the diploma did not equip full-time teenage college students with the necessary work experience. It found that delivering the diploma in under a year with 484 learning hours 'is insufficient to provide the depth of knowledge and understanding needed for 16-year-olds or adults with no previous experience of the workplace or the sector.'

Colleges and awarding bodies have long been lobbying for the college-based qualification to be more rigorous and comparable, for example, with the reprieved two-year Level 3 CACHE Diploma in Childcare and Education which carries 360 UCAS points, making it a vehicle for university entry. The CWDC worked with an expert group and the awarding bodies to create awards that would meet the wishes of employers and would produce outcome-based qualifications that Ofqual approved for the new Qualifications and Credit Framework.

In response to complaints that CWDC ignored the sector's concerns about the diploma, Jane Haywood, its chief executive, says, 'CWDC has acted in good faith throughout the development of this qualification. We represent the voice of employers and have acted on what they have told us, rationalising the landscape to provide two qualifications that provide learners with the skills and knowledge that employers told us they need. We developed the qualification in full partnership with employers and key stakeholders, including providers. We had strong support for our work.

'Clearly, the situation in which we developed the qualifications has changed within the year, and the full implications for the qualification development and delivery system are only now being worked through in practice. We acknowledge and regret that this has created difficulties and concerns for some providers. However, CWDC has done all it can, working with awarding bodies, to minimise the impact for new learners and those with existing qualifications, and we will continue to work with awarding bodies to realise the recommendations in the Ofqual report.'

CRITICS

In practice, student funding should be unaffected by the change in plan. The Skills Funding Agency will stop funding qualifications for learners aged 19+ on 31 March for awards not on the Qualifications Credit Framework (QCF). This group tends to be work-based learners for whom OfQual says the diploma is an effective qualification.

However, critics of the new diploma argue that it is dumbing down early years qualifications. Tricia Pritchard, senior professional officer (childcare) for the education union Voice, says, 'What employers want is a highly skilled, well-trained workforce well prepared and able to deal with their demanding role. More importantly, this is what parents want and children deserve. Unfortunately, this new qualification framework will not prove this.'

Even those who support the new award query why the CWDC did not respond to complaints sooner. Sally Eaton, education director of the Childcare Company, says, 'The diploma is working well for work-based learners, but the OfQual report says it does not meet the needs for these two-year students. This has been an issue that CACHE, Edexcel and City and Guilds have been raising.

'I still believe it is a very good qualification. We have about 100 learners who are taking it and the feedback from them and their assessors is very positive. They are people already in employment. It is a shame that CWDC did not listen to or respond to the concerns of the awarding bodies. We have to be careful that people do not misunderstand the directive, which could easily happen. If we are not careful, people will start to think "Help, I've embarked on this diploma and it is not going to be worth the paper it is written on!"'

COLLEGES

Colleges struggled through last term's open days by being deliberately vague with prospective students and their parents about the childcare courses that would be on offer next September.

'Following a long period of uncertainty, we are thrilled with the decision,' says Margaret Emson, head of the care and early years department at North East Surrey College of Technology. 'However, an extension for only one year does leave colleges with difficulties when offering advice and guidance to young people who wish to study for childcare qualifications.'

Her counterparts at other colleges agree. Tony Cicco, head of the school of care, which includes an early years section, at Kingston College, says, 'They have taken a wise decision. However, when the health and social care BTec course changed, we had all the information well in advance and we were able to say to prospective students, "This is the course, this is the content". With this new diploma we have had to keep things a bit vague.'

The uncertainty has presented problems in marketing childcare courses. 'We weren't actually sure what courses were going to be running next year,' says Chris Lawrence, principal of Chiltern College. 'So, we have been holding off on our marketing. It has caused a lot of unnecessary worry for the colleges and uncertainty for the people they are recruiting. It has been very frustrating. Some colleges have spent an enormous amount of time and effort trying to develop a new course themselves.'

Teresa Stroud, head of curriculum for health, care, early years and public services at Aylesbury College, says, 'It has had an impact on our publicity and marketing, which has cost the college at a time when it is facing cuts. This week we are going back over our marketing and are changing our interviews.

'It has been a farce. CWDC has had so much lobbying from the awarding bodies, training providers, educational providers and individual tutors, and they ignored everybody until Ofqual became involved. I am grateful for the huge level of lobbying, especially from CACHE.

'One of my main points is, in this time of cuts and lack of funding for 19+ learners, what this has actually cost us. We have been lobbying for 18 months. Why were CWDC not open to discussion with any of the people on the ground?

'At least we know what is happening in 2011, but we actually need to know now what is happening in 2012.'

Ofqual began its scrutiny of the diploma when the award was launched in September, but a spokeswoman insists that it was not an unprecedented action for the authority to examine a brandnew award so soon after launch.

Rob Newby, senior project manager at CWDC, says, 'After the OfQual report was published, what was clear to us was that the pace of change was difficult for everybody to achieve at the same time.

'The principle of the QCF is to recognise qualifications based on outcomes rather than inputs. The awarding organisations worked with us to develop this. Throughout the process we have met regularly with the awarding organisations and have reviewed their feedback. We have worked in the timescales they told us they needed to provide clear communication to their centres.'

AWARDING BODIES

The awarding bodies are now developing a new award to go with the diploma, aiming to enable students to develop more analytical skills and provide a route to higher education.

Richard Dorrance, chief executive of CACHE, explains, 'We've been lobbying CWDC for quite some time now, because there was a gap in provision that needed to be filled urgently. We're really thrilled that we've persuaded them to have a two-year course.

'We're also pleased because it meets employers' needs and it provides a two-year course to meet the Government objective in the White Paper, for young people to stay on in education until they're 18.'

Having persuaded CWDC to retain a Level 2 award and won the reprieve, albeit temporarily, of the old qualifications, the early years sector will doubtless be repeating demands in 2011 for a Level 4 qualification for the workforce.

QUALIFICATIONS UPDATE

The qualifications that are continuing to be offered to new learners for a further year are:

• - CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Child Care and Education
• - CACHE Level 2 Diploma in Child Care and Education
• - Edexcel Level 2 BTEC First Diploma in CCLD
• - Edexcel Level 3 BTEC National Diploma in CCLD
• - City & Guilds Level 4 Higher Professional Diploma in Early Years
• - NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Developing Skills for Early Years Practice

NURSERY WORLD SHOW 2011

Catch up on training at the Nursery World Show 2011, to be held on 11 and 12 February at the Business Design Centre, London.

At 2pm on Friday, national manager for early years at the Children's Workforce Development Council, Thom Crabbe, will be giving an overview of early years training, including Level 2 and 3 qualifications and Early Years Professional Status.

For information and to register for the exhibition and seminars, visit www.nurseryworld.show.com