CWDC recommends future direction for early years

The CWDC review, published ahead of its closure at the end of the month, is informed by employers, the CWDC Board and members, and experience of its five-year Early Years Programme. It outlines in detail how the DfE, Teaching Agency and other sector leaders should take its work forward. Jane Haywood, outgoing chief executive (pictured) said 'In future other agencies will pick up the baton we have carried and we wish them well'.

The paper states ‘The drive must be maintained for a coherent and simple qualifications structure that parents and employers have confidence in’.

It goes on to recommend that the DfE should ‘raise the bar on regulation to encourage a graduate-led, minimum Level 3 workforce and to reflect on what is being achieved in practice. This could include a requirement for registered childminders to pass an Introduction to Childcare course that is at Level 3 prior to registration’.

The Teaching Agency will need to have ‘the necessary levers’ to maintain progress on the qualifications strategy, it believes, and build on CWDC’s work to describe progression routes and promote careers in early learning, as well as apprenticeships and foundation degrees.

CWDC warns that the progress of EYPS could be threatened by local authority budget cuts: ‘Most local authority leads are concerned about their ability to continue to support settings with training and development and the majority are reducing the subsidy they give to support EYP salary enhancement. This can be between £10–15,000 per setting. Many foresee a big knock-on to individual settings and therefore employment of EYPs themselves’.

INTEGRATED WORKING

An important area of work cited is CWDC Share!, its integrated working programme which included events and publications, and an online networking community called Share Street.

It draws attention to the fact that the coalition Government has said little explicitly about integrated working but acknowledges it as a common thread running through reviews from Graham Allen, Dame Clare Tickell, Frank Field and Professor Eileen Munro. However, it feels ‘the lack of a clear Government steer is resulting in an unco-ordinated approach across departments’.

CWDC recommends a cross-departmental approach to facilitate the collaborative delivery of services and recognises the importance of local leadership, recommending that the Children’s Improvement Board should support this through work with the Health and Well Being Boards, the Family Nurse Partnerships and Safer Schools Partnerships.

Continued training is needed for leaders on how to head up integrated services, which could be broadened to include commissioning.

In its sign-off, CWDC says that it enjoyed a high level of cross-sector support during its life-span and fears that employers will question who is fighting their corner post-March 2012.

Download the papers on the Early Years Workforce and Integrated Working