Training: Students face problems with lack of hours spent in nursery placements

With widespread closures and limits on the numbers of people coming in and out of nurseries, many students have faced difficulties accessing the number of hours they were required to spend working in an early years setting.

Ian Everitt, programme area manager for childcare at Leicester College, said, ‘There are concerns that students did not have as much time as before.’

Assessment service Pearson, which offers BTEC qualifications in childcare, and CACHE, which provides a variety of early years qualifications, both working in partnership with the Department for Education and other awarding organisations, offered three options for students:

• ‘Knowledge-only’ pathway: learners who did not need the 'licence to practise' element of the course, i.e., those wishing to go on to university rather than into the workplace, could take a ‘knowledge-only’ pathway which did not offer a licence to practise at the end but did carry UCAS points to allow them to continue in education.
• Maximising placement time: learners who did need the licence could take a pathway ensuring the skills and competencies that could only be assessed in early years settings were focused on during what time was available in the workplace, while other skills, such as making a bottle of formula or setting up a play activity, were assessed in simulated learning environments.
• Delaying: for those unable to complete the allotted number of hours in the workplace to learn the practical skills required to gain the licence to practise, the offer to delay the qualification into the next academic year was available.

Julie Hyde, director of external and regulatory affairs at CACHE, said, ‘Some learners weren't affected at all, because they got their placement hours, while others were. We worked with providers to ensure that when learners were able to get into settings, their options were maximised. In reality, we won't have the full picture until the end of September.

‘We have done the best that we possibly could to advantage as many learners as possible, given unprecedented circumstances. One of the key priorities was to ensure that those young people who were certificated were competent as early years educators; that was the overarching principle.’

At Leicester College, Mr Everitt said those who had spent some time in settings were better equipped to deal with work after a pandemic-hit course.

‘We have confidence in our Level 3 students who qualified in the summer of 2021 because they had two years to attempt to get some hours in. Our Level 3s, while not necessarily getting the 800 hours we would like, were nonetheless able to demonstrate competency in the brief periods they were able to get into settings. 

'They managed three chunks on the calendar between September 2019 to March 2020, then September 2020 to December 2020 and finally, if lucky, some managed April 2021 to the end of July 2021. Some settings are still wary about letting students in. Others were actually grateful for a helping pair of hands. They may not have had the full range expected, but they clearly showed they can do the job to a good standard and be work-ready at the end.’

However, he said there was some concern about those receiving the ‘knowledge-only’ qualifications.

‘The larger concern is students who will be allocated “knowledge only” certificates, as I am worried employers won't really notice it in the small print.  

‘It only really happened here for Level 2 students, but these students could show a potential employer that certificate and the employer may not be aware the applicant has not done the 400 hours they were supposed to do. Our students from Level 2 are, in the main, progressing with us anyway. The lack of placement hours in 2021 should be superseded by the hours they will gain in 2021/22 and onwards.  But it should be something employers look out for with job applicants from the 2021 cohorts – check to make sure it is the full award and not just knowledge only.’

Employer view

As the employer of over 690 members of staff, managing director of Tops Day Nurseries Cheryl Hadland said the lack of placement time would not affect her approach to hiring, which faced bigger challenges than Covid. 

‘At the moment we are grateful for any staff, qualified or not, and all would do an extended induction anyway to fill in their gaps,’ she said. ‘We tend to recruit for attitude rather than skills, as academic and on-line courses never fully prepare apparently qualified Level 3s to supervise a room. The courses cover an insufficient level of leadership, management and even deployment, never mind the practical and communication aspects of being key person to a dozen children. A solid knowledge of child development is particularly helpful. 

‘Our preferred route is to recruit apprentices of good calibre and to train them up through the levels, but we do need good, competent Level 3s and above to lead the apprentices, and this is a huge challenge with so many Level 3s leaving the sector altogether.’

For learners hoping to qualify at the end of the 2021-22 academic year, Ms Hyde said as things currently stand, they should be able to complete all the placement time required.

‘To all intents and purposes, we're planning for a normal academic session in 2021-22, with some adaptations that were in place for last year. We're just working through confirmation of these now, but we are, in essence, planning for a normal year.’