I Need Some Tlc

[Guest]

Just got to get this off my chest.

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo fed up with this NNEB situation.

I am getting so much support which is absolutely brilliant but the majority of the replies I get say they treat their old NNEBS as level 3 and hold them in very high regard.

Why oh why am I having all this trouble.

Last year I was told I was only worth a level 1 and that I should do the IPP and the more I think about it the more my blood starts to boil.

I am good at my job and I do know what I'm doing why can't I get the recognition !!!! Lots of other old NNEBS are , what is wrong with mine ????

One lady said they treat the NNEB as a gold qualification.

At my place of work the level 3's are fresh out of college and while I don't begrudge them their qualification I do wonder why my NNEB and 20 years of experience seems to be just disregarded.

:wacko:

[Guest rhodessj]

Dear Hotgoss

 

Who told you you're only worth a Level 1? What qualifications/experience does this person have themselves?

 

From my very limited experience (3years in the job and an additional 2 as a parent); I would say whoever this is should not be working with children themselves... One of our major objectives is to focus on what children CAN do and build on that - how inclusive is it to speak to adults in this way... (I do suffer from similar problems at my workplace).

 

Keep on going, your experience IS valuable and so is your qualification, no matter how old. We've been told our Ofsted inspector has the last say - get in touch with them if they haven't with you and get their answer comitted to writing.

 

Sandra

[Guest]

HELLO HOTGOSS

 

I am so sorry that your NNEB is not being recognised

 

I might not be the person to help you as i trained as a NNEB many moons ago, but it is recognised in my LEA as a level 3

 

I can't understand why some LEA's accept the NNEB and some don't i totally understand i would be fumming at this

 

I don't have any advice, other than your 20 years of experince is vital and in vaulable to the children's learning

 

I don't know what else to say i am thinking of you

[Guest]

The committee at my group decided I was only worth a level 1 after my PlA field worker said that my NNEB was no longer a recognised qualification and told me I had to completely retrain. Eventually after having spoken to the department for education they decided I could be a level 1 until I have topped up in certain areas. The department for education told me what areas to top up in but cannot tell me what courses are acceptable so I'm at a standstill at the moment.

I am getting so angry with the situation as so many people are telling me they treat their NNEBs as level 3's and respect their professionalism.

OFSTED originally told me they could not help me , then recently said that I cannot be a level 3 if I have not kept up to date with recent issues. She then said it was not up to OFSTED to comment on updating qualifications.

Our OFSTED inspector said that you don't expect doctors etc to retrain just top up and the same should be true for me but could not put it in writing.

I just feel so insulted to be told to do the IPP and then the DPP.

Surely 20 years of experience should be worth something.

[Guest]

I have gone from feeling frustrated over this to now feeling very angry and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do , people have their minds made up on this and I don't suppose I will ever change anything !!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry to moan but I'm having an 'off day ' lol

[hali]

:wacko: Hotgrass tell your committee they are crap and print off all old NNEBs views saying thier qualifications still stand........

 

Its ridiculous as long as you are keeping up to date with relevent courses you are fine!!!!!!!!!

 

[hali]

sorry for the c word (now is it the c word for the dreaded committee or the other.....)

[Guest]

Last year I took in all the e.mails that I had saying the NNEB is a level 3. But they won't do anything until the department for education update their guidelines and who knows when that will be !!

I have made up a word document of all the replies that I have had about the NNEB ( minus e.mail addresses and names ) and I sent it to the department for education who very politely said they had enough information and the ministers have been briefed and she would contact me when there was any news.

At the time there were 3 pages of views but as I have new ones coming in every day there are five more so if I don't hear within a few weeks she will be getting those as well.

I think that is why I am getting so frustrated many people are e.mailing me and are looking after their NNEBs plus today I got a bog standard letter from Tony Blairs office , just a few lines saying the prime minister thanks you for your letter and has taken note of your views. The more I think about it the more I think that is not good enough and I want answers !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest]

Plus the department for education say that I can only be a level 3 when I have topped up in certain areas yet although they tell me what the areas are they cannot tell me what courses are acceptable.

I do go on short courses and will willingly do the ones they want me to do if they only told me what ones they are !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Susan]

Can't add much but lots of tlc coming your way!

[mundia]

I alwasy thought the NNEB was level 3, thats what all of our support staff have got and they're wonderful

 

Like Susan I cant add much else, but to say, have a hug from me...and some tlc.

[Rea]

Hi Hotgoss, asfar as I understand it any qulification is valid so long as there has been no gap in your employment and you've attended regular training courses in various things . In your position I would class myself as a level 3, the only way your qual. could be classed as level one is if you had done the nneb before 1989 and hadnt trained since. I know it's confusing but stick to your guns, or do committee want to have to start advertising and interviewing!!

[Sue R]

Does anyone in authority (or elsewhere) realise there is no Level 1?

 

If you are not 2, 3 or 4, then you are Level 0!!

 

Are they really suggesting old qualifications are the equivalent of NO KNOWLEDGE ? If taken to the logical conclusion of some stands reported.

 

Sorry, something that just struck me whilst wandering around the postings.

As you do - if you're me

 

Sue

[Guest]

Back a little here

 

 

..... you are 'should be level 3'.

 

Why is anyone suggesting that you should do the IPP when this is only "underpinning for level 2"? I know about IPP, because I did IPP and went no further. What the hell can IPP tell you? If you were level 3 and have done CPD (continuing professional development, as other professions call it; we call it ongoing training or keeping updated) you are still level 3.

 

Forget it: you are "level 3" and you always will be. That should never be taken from you if you are committed to moving with the times.

 

This is what we need to protect. All of us early years workers need our qualifications recognised.

 

Look at me: I'm doing the EYFD, but may have a level 4 qualification by the end of the year. What is the point of me doing this (the SureStart initiative) if it will be denegrated in years to come, like these existing qualifications?

 

We are all committed to updating our training, but the government cannot continue to ignore existing qualifications and keep asking everyone to start again from scratch.

 

I understood that OFSTED was working with the sector, but I am struggling to see evidence of this.

 

 

It is probably down to us. We have to make ourselves heard and present a unified front. There are enough of us who think that we are doing the right thing and that what we do matters.

 

"Practitioners lobby SureStart"- could be a newspaper headline.

 

Diane.

[hali]

Hear hear

[Guest]

hot goss,

what areas are you being asked to update? keep your chin up, your NNEB is a qualification to be proud of . maddyx.

[Guest]

I've been told by the department for education to top up in

- anti-discriminatory practice

- equality of opportunity

- child protection

- health and safety

- curriculum planning and early learning goals (Foundation Stage training)

Which I started to do last year ( as well as going on other courses eg behaviour , sign language etc and first aid later in the year. ) the trouble is no one can actually tell me what courses are acceptable as top ups.

Diane I was thinking of writing letters to the papers , got a bog standard letter back from Tony Blairs office saying the prime minister thanked me for the letter and acknowledged my views. Well in my mind if he wants my vote next time he's got to do better than that , so will be writing again.

[Guest rhodessj]

Dear Hotgoss

 

I think going to the papers is a great idea. First though, is your setting part of the Pre-School Learning Alliance? Have you involved them?

 

I have just resigned from my setting and will no longer be working at a Pre-School, although intend to continue my level 3 training and may return to the job at some stage. Although (as I've said before) this issue does not concern me personally, like Diane, I feel that somewhere down the line, this argument may be thrown back at the current trainees. This needs to be sorted NOW and it needs sorting IN WRITING by the likes of Ofsted and accepted by Committees and training bodies nationwide.

 

For information, my setting were given the same list of areas that need "topping up" as you were and we were told this is mostly due to changes in the Children Act which have come into force in the last 10years. Likewise though, nobody is clear on exactly what courses count as top-up!

 

I have no real idea of how we can gather together some national campaign, but I am sure there are lots of people involved in this site who have the knowledge, contacts and enthusiasm for such a thing. Anybody fancy a protest march?!!!

 

Sandra

[Guest]

Yes my setting is part of the PLA but unfortunately they are the ones that started all this. My PLA field worker was the one who told me I had to retrain although I have been in touch with the lady in charge of the training side and she has told me there should be some news in the middle of June but I'm not holding my breath !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rea]

Hi, I dont know if this is still an issue for you but this weeks Nuursery World has a letter from someone who was having the same probs with NNEB. In brief, the lady concerned wrote to Richard Dorrance, chief ex at CACHE. He said the NNEB with continuous work experience was still valid.He advised that the employer put together an action plan for Ofsted that showed further proffessional development would be undertaken. Further advice was to contact DFEE to request a letter to show to employer confirming NNEB was still valid. Hope this helps anyone else who's being bugged by Ofsted or anyone else over this.

[Guest valletta]

hi hotgoss

 

valletta here-

 

keep on at theem ok - I was told the same, I told you ages again and Ofsted said plus others...

 

As long as I have not had any unbroken years of service at

my Pre school now 15years and that I have completed update

courses in the relevant areas - I do not have to retrain to level 3

I did my Superviors course (1 year) in 1990 and kept being told it was necesary for me to update to level 3 - now Ofsted has

changed its mind and said after all the years of experience and h

having no career breaks they will accept me as a level 3 now,

but if I decide to go to another preschool, all my qualifications will

be unrecognised and then I would have to do a level 3 - so in a

nutshell it fits in where I work but not outside as I have been there

so long.

 

hope this makes sense and I am on your side

 

regards

[Guest]

But that in itself is wrong isn't it , to recognise your worth in one setting but not another. Have you topped up in

anti-discriminatory practice

- equality of opportunity

- child protection

- health and safety

- curriculum planning and early learning goals (Foundation Stage training)

as these were the areas in which I was told to update ??

I will keep in fighting for old qualifications to be recognised not only in present settings but also in any new place of employment.

[Gezabel]

If I remember rightly the lady who wrote to nursery world contacted the DfEE and they provided her with a letter stating that her NNEB was level 3. If that's the case then surely it would be valid anywhere?

 

 

If all goes well I will have level 4 in October but my 'old, out of date, worthless, NNEB means far more to me'

[Guest]

the article reads

Ofsted has declined to comment about the matter. A spokeswoman said that it was a matter for the Dfes. For its part, the dfes restated that pre CHildren act NNEB holders do not have to gain a further qualification. But tantalisingly the clarification stopped there as the spokeswoman added, "We are currently reviewing the dfes`s list of qualifications that are acceptable for meeting the requirements of the national standards, with the aim of providing better guidance to the sector"

 

Richard Dorrance, chief exec of CACHE is more forthcoming. He says " if someone has a preChildren act qualification and has kept their knowledge up to date there is no need for further training. If the have not dome so, then it is right and propper for Ofsted to require them to undertake further training.. What this means in practice - although very few are caught by this - is that the NNEB does only count as a level 2 if they have done no training since 1989.

 

Extra training needed in Child Protection, SEN and Foundation Stage. Pre Children act courses more care and health orientated, little on education.

 

Richard Dorrance also insists that ther are no grounds for fears about loss of status. "What Ofsted says is that it is fine for people to do a level 3 job as long as they have an action plan that includes the refresher training, so there is no loss of status or money while they are implementing that plan"

[hali]

well i did my child protection course yesturday...it was brill 1 day and an excellent course..only H & S to go then no one can complain about my NNEB...

[Gezabel]

There have been so many articles in Nursery World but I was talking about the letter in the latest issue. The lady qualified as NNEB in 1982 but was told by her employers that it was no longer vaild and she would not be able to continue in her role as deputy supervisor of a pre-school.

 

the lady contactd Richard Dorrance and he said her employers should put together an action plan for OFSTED that showed she would be undertaking some continuing professional development in the key areas of CP, SEN ELG's and health and safety. He gave her a contact name at the DfES and suggested that she said her employers needed something in writing to show to OFSTED.

 

She then says "I am pleased to say that I have received this letter and that my NNEB is equivalent to a level 3 qualification"

 

Think I will try phoning the DfES and say I need a letter too and see what happens!!

[hali]

thats a good idea geraldine..

[Guest]

Let us know how you get on Geraldine !!

[Guest]

Well I've e.mailed Richard Dorrance and the department for education asking why the ladies position in nursery world is different to mine, why can she have a letter saying shes a level 3 and I can't ??? Will let you know the outcome.

[Sue R]

hotgoss, I haven't abandoned you! By the time I returned from our weekend away and caught up with the posts, it was apparent you had already accessed the info I referred to last week!

 

Good luck with your continued quest

 

Sue