Qualifications And Staff Advise Please

[Guest]

i have 2 members of staff with no qualifications and 1 of these has made it very clear over the years that she has no intention of going on any courses, i took over last easter from being deputy with little say in the running of the setting. with a positive mind in encouraging all staff to gain more knowledge (when taking over alot of the staff had little knowedge of the 6 areas etc!) i set out to give as much support as poss to help them. am i asking too much to want all of my team to be qualified and to want to go into the new EYFS programme with the right attitude to be the best at what we do? :blink: i'm meeting with these 2 members of staff tomorrow as at appraisals last year i said that i wanted all staff to have some sort of qualification and 1 said she would do it and the other said she would leave but neither have done anything about it, i know qualifications are not the be all and end all and experience and the right attititude are also important but these two lack a large helping of both!! i find confrontation very difficult and have probably been far too easy on them but know that i need to move the setting forward. help!! :unsure:

[Guest]

This is a difficult one isn't it. When the news came out that leaders would have to have degree level qualifications by 2015, it made me have a look at my staffs employment contracts. Nowhere did they say that staff had to complete any type of qualification although professional development was supported. I spoke to CWDC and ACAS about this, as I felt I needed to rewrite contracts to take into account an 'expectation' for continuous professional development including gaining certain qualifications after so many years of employment. I also stated that one of my staff who had learning difficulties would not be able to gain a level 2, where did this put her in terms of having a fully qualified workforce as promoted by CWDC, I said to them that to require her to gain qualifications may be discriminatory, espcially as I felt that she worked very well with the children, especially interaction with them, but needed additional support with the administation / writing of observations/reports etc.

My local teacher advisor actually said that any Ofsted judgment would take her inabilities into account , and that I should not count her on my ratio's.

 

So, I would advise in your predicament to first look at what employment contracts say regarding training / qualifications when initially employed as unqualified (ie: if employing a supervisor we automatically ask for level 3). Do they state qualifications will be expected in the future?

Another point though is that employment contracts expect a person to work to the national standards, part of the national standards is to have 50% qualified (I think, long time since I read them). So if qualified staff leave, then an unqualified current member of staff couldn't take their place, thus are they supporting the setting in maintaining national standards? difficult because you could recruit, but this has costs.

 

National standards, or the new EYFS also requires knowledge that has changed over the decade, can your current staff (unqualified - no continuous training) prove to you how they have kept up to date with current requirements / knowledge by self study? for example; can they still do the job they were employed for?

The common core of knowledge and skills, also comes into place soon, not too sure about it's requirements, again, I've been a bit out of the loop, so to speak, but have a look on the CWDC site as I think evidence of this will be required for all staff to meet in the future. (I may be wrong though).

 

 

Sorry, not much concrete help but I would certainly look at employment contracts, see if they need changing and how you go about this (ACAS will give advice), plus mayb think about reviewing your training policy too.

 

Reading between the lines, don't mix up job performance with the issue of qualifications, they can be related, but not necessarily. Any work issues are not really for appraisal time, so deal with these as they occur. Lack of experience, what role does employer play here? Lack of appropriatte attitude tackle at supervision and set targets for change.

 

Peggy

[Inge]

While we all want staff to be qualified and progress if someone is not interested it is hard to make them and get them motivated to do anything about it.

 

Some will depend on their contracts as our states that they will undertake training to minimum level 2 and update their training regularly with a minimum requirement.. eg must attend child protection and complete 1st Aid , it is part of our terms of employment.

 

we also introduced enhanced levels of pay for trained staff, not based on length of service, but to show that it was appreciated that they had undergone training, more money always seems to help a bit.

 

 

we are a charity / voluntary committee pre-school and money is often tight and staff understand this, but the extra bit of money found in the budget helped them all keep training updated.

 

I used to list all staff qualifications, when obtained and then had a column for either updating as in 1st aid etc or training needed, I then found the courses and passed on the info or even helped with the bookings etc, sometimes if out of training for a while just the thought of doing this can be daunting if not scarey, but with help they are/were willing to follow through.

 

Looks like Peggy has said it all while I wrote this one!

 

Inge

[Guest]

While we all want staff to be qualified and progress if someone is not interested it is hard to make them and get them motivated to do anything about it.

 

Some will depend on their contracts as our states that they will undertake training to minimum level 2 and update their training regularly with a minimum requirement.. eg must attend child protection and complete 1st Aid , it is part of our terms of employment.

 

we also introduced enhanced levels of pay for trained staff, not based on length of service, but to show that it was appreciated that they had undergone training, more money always seems to help a bit.

 

 

we are a charity / voluntary committee pre-school and money is often tight and staff understand this, but the extra bit of money found in the budget helped them all keep training updated.

 

I used to list all staff qualifications, when obtained and then had a column for either updating as in 1st aid etc or training needed, I then found the courses and passed on the info or even helped with the bookings etc, sometimes if out of training for a while just the thought of doing this can be daunting if not scarey, but with help they are/were willing to follow through.

 

Looks like Peggy has said it all while I wrote this one!

 

Inge

 

 

I hadn't Inge, (said it all)

You make some very valuable points about motivation and support to enable staff to want to participate in and/or continue professional development. I think it's especially important to consider that many people have not been in 'education' for many years and may have 'unhappy' past experiences etc to overcome, or lack of confidence etc.

To enable my staff member who had learning difficulties to attend training basic food hygiene training, I booked it, drove her to the venue, got clear feedback on why she failed, then arranged another days training, and with this support she passed second time around. The sense of achievement for her was immense when handed her certificate. Other training I would always try to ensure another member of staff went with her.

Guess what her main fear was?...........Introducing herself at the start of any training, it was a real phobia that petrified her, so just ensuring the tutor knew this helped.

 

Peggy

 

Peggy

[Guest]

Thank you for you comments, i am going to talk to the committee at our next meeting about pay scales as this would give more incentive and value to those that need some and that have already undertaken training, at the mo everyone apart from my Deputy and myself are on the same per hour! i have had many changes to make since taking over the setting this is one of the many areas that has needed to be addresed but like everything it takes time and there is a flickering light at the end of a very long tunnel that is coming in to view!!!

[Guest]

Thank you for you comments, i am going to talk to the committee at our next meeting about pay scales as this would give more incentive and value to those that need some and that have already undertaken training, at the mo everyone apart from my Deputy and myself are on the same per hour! i have had many changes to make since taking over the setting this is one of the many areas that has needed to be addresed but like everything it takes time and there is a flickering light at the end of a very long tunnel that is coming in to view!!!

 

 

Your reply reminds me of my previous signature...positive thoughts equals positive results. Glad to hear you can just about see the light, good for you and all that you've achieved so far.

 

Peggy