The new identity aims to re-position the association as ‘a standard-setting professional association’ for childcare professionals, including childminders, nursery workers and nannies.
PACEY’s new president is leading childcare expert and author Penny Tassoni (pictured).
Liz Bayram and Catherine Farrell, joint chief executives of PACEY, said, ‘PACEY is being launched at a critical time for childcare when multiple changes are being considered in the sector, from new entry and qualification requirements to childminder agencies and ratio changes.
‘For the first time PACEY will enable one voice to represent all childcare professionals. Working with our members, we will focus on setting standards, promoting best practice and supporting our members to deliver high standards of care and learning. Our report shows that childminders, nannies and nursery workers sharing a dedication to giving children the best start in life and we want to ensure they are supported, recognised and rewarded for doing so.’
Penny Tassoni said, 'The early years sector is wonderfully diverse, but yet I see it as a united community as it always puts children and their families first. It is therefore an honour to become the first president of PACEY - an organisation designed to support members who work in a variety of roles within this early years community.'
Childcare career survey
To coincide with the launch, the association has also published the results of its childcare career survey, Childcare – not just a job, a vocation, which reveals that low pay and a lack of professional recognition are the key issues for those working in the sector.
Eighty-three per cent of nursery workers who took part in the research cited low pay as their main concern.
However, the report says that its findings challenge the popular view that people choose childcare as a career because they do not do well at school.
The majority of respondents had held at least one previous role in childcare and the vast majority said they intended to stay in childcare for five years or more.
PACEY’S research shows that childcare professionals gain experience in a number of different settings and roles.
However, the survey reveals that nearly half of all respondents started their childcare careers working in a nursery or pre-school.
While it says that the majority of childminders started working in nurseries ‘because they loved to look after children’, 53 per cent of childminders said that ‘their main motivation for starting a career in childminding was to be able to work and care for their own children too.’
The majority of respondents said that their main motivation for working in childcare was ‘the joy of working with children’.
Low pay was seen as the main challenge for early years and childcare workers.
Lucy, 29, from Southampton, a nursery worker, who previously worked as a childminding assistant, said, ‘The worse thing about a career in childcare: The pay. You have an enormous amount of responsibility yet are paid very little.’
Nursery worker Jane, 23, said, ‘Pay is a massive issue – everyone always complains about it. If you think a cleaner gets paid more than someone who looks after your child…it’s just not fair.’
The report also puts forward key recommendations, including:
- Government should focus investment in childcare on frontline providers, so that they can invest in their own quality improvement.
- The Government should recognise the importance of regulation in driving up quality, with a minimum of a full and relevant Level 3 qualifications as currently proposed in England.
- Regulators should be required to place a greater emphasis on training and development that individual childcare professionals undertake, as part of inspection.
- Parents should value the qualifications and training of individuals working in settings, as much as they currently rely on Ofsted or CSSIW inspection results to judge quality in settings.
The research was carried out in association with Nursery World and NannyTax.
For more information visit www.pacey.org.uk
