23 Oct What the ……qualification do you mean!
An important role by those appropriately qualified to TEACH and NURTURE our little people. A sector that requires a nursery practitioner to be “full and relevantly” qualified. Training that should offer a “full and relevant” qualification with a “licence to practice”. The requirements are pretty obvious but the course qualification titles sadly are not.
The size of the full and relevant pre September 2014 and post September 2014 list of early years qualification list of course titles and their associated establishments lexicon leaves many of us constantly questioning every qualification an applicant claims to have so no wonder there is so much confusion.
Just as well we do, because many appear from their title as “full and relevant”; worse still, in almost every case a surprise to the applicant that is led to believe it is. Who wouldn’t be tempted to get a L3 Early Years qualification in just a few months – it would take at least a year and practical assessments in a work place otherwise. Why not qualify to teach the Early Years curriculum to our little people ages 0-5 years from the comfort of our sitting room in 6-8 months, if not sooner. What if we were able to do the same with infant and junior school children?
If you had a qualification titled ‘Cache Level 3 Award in Childcare and Education’ you would not be alone in assuming this is “full and relevant”. It states Cache, it states Level 3 and it states Childcare and Education. If you had a qualification titled ‘Cache L3 Certificate in Childcare and Education’ you would not be alone in thinking the same. There is also ‘Level 3 Certificate in Preparing to Work in Early Years Education and Care’ and ‘Technical Level 3 Certificate in Childcare and Education’.
But not all courses are made equal. There is a plethora of qualifications across different awarding bodies listed as full and relevant on the official government list. Post September 2014 level 3 courses count to 31 and pre September 2014 count to 56, yet there are some not listed that some would question should be. Listed titles include ‘Early Learning and Childcare’, ‘Early Years Education and Care’, ‘Children’s Play, Learning and Development’, ‘Caring Practice’, ‘Montessori Pedagogy’ to name just a few. It’s either a ridiculously great choice or a plethoric lexicological nightmare!
Does a qualification in Early Years matter? Of course it does – you have to follow a curriculum just like school. Are they being undervalued? Of course they are – there is no value in spending money on a course that is not going to qualify you – you may as well work as an unqualified practitioner because you won’t get paid a penny more. Are they commercially exploited? Sadly yes.
Purple Dove Recruitment was recently quoted about this very topic in an article by Nursery World http://bit.ly/2yObXTr
If you would like any advice on this subject, get in touch with Purple Dove – we are happy to help.