Level 3 Training /ba Childhood Studies

[Guest]

i have a girl volunteering who has BA but cant get employed as no experience- i have read some new guidelines that state if you have a BA direct with no prior study , ie nvq, foundation degree, top uu degree they must under the eyfs have an assessed qual such as nvq! has anyone else read this?

i can see the reasoning as this girl has no practical skills at all and doesnt really seem to beable to get on the childrens wavelength or have much interaction, i like to give people a chance and have offered her a part time position if she will do a level 3 which she is quite happy to do- any thoughts out there??!!

[HappyMaz]

i have read some new guidelines that state if you have a BA direct with no prior study , ie nvq, foundation degree, top uu degree they must under the eyfs have an assessed qual such as nvq! has anyone else read this?

I haven't heard this, but one thought does occur to me - will she (and your setting) get funding to do an NVQ if she already has a degree? What is her degree in? Has she thought about EYPS in the longer term after she gets some experience? Until then she would be classified as unqualified though - but you could be giving 'on the job' training and the support she needs!

 

Just a thought - would be interested to see what other people think.

 

Maz

[Alison]

thats what I had heard, a BA is not a stand alone practioner qualification and during the degree there should be an additional module to gain practioner status this has been the case long before EYPs came in, a friend of mine was doing her degree and because she had NVQ 3 she didnt need to do the module but many of her uni peers had to do a practitioner status module

 

it might be worth checking if she can do EYPs?

[Guest]

Having just interviewed for 3 days last week this is something that came up with us as well. We had one candidate who had a degree but no experience and no actual childcare qualification. We discussed and decided that she would have to do an NVQ, we had a member of our LA early years team on the interview panel and that was her opinion as well. A degree is not a childcare qualification but I think maybe we should all check this out!

[Alison]

Im doing eyps at the moment as a manager with a degree and 15 years + expereince Im doing the short pathway I attended a lecture the tutor asked the class to say what qualifications and expereince we had there were long pathway EYPs all had degrees non had expereince and they where doing the EYPs to get into childcare.....

 

uuuuummmmm reading the above posts, alarm bells are ringing in my head!!! what is being taught on the eyps long pathway?

 

I totally agree that people working in childcare needs the level 3 stage of training I dont see how EYPs can replace/substitute the underpinning knowlege of level 3 qualification and expereince,

[Guest]

I haven't heard this, but one thought does occur to me - will she (and your setting) get funding to do an NVQ if she already has a degree? What is her degree in? Has she thought about EYPS in the longer term after she gets some experience? Until then she would be classified as unqualified though - but you could be giving 'on the job' training and the support she needs!

 

Just a thought - would be interested to see what other people think.

 

Maz

if ba childhood studies isnt classed as a childcare practitioner qual we should get funding, we can also get funding for taking on a graduate if prepared to do eyps, however if she wants to i feel other staff who are doing nvq4 and foundation degree with a view to gaining eyps in the long term will feel put out as they have a wealth of experience and knowledge and are slogging really hard to gain quals and she could technically gain status in 2 years with not a clue about children!!! seem unfair that anyone with a degree can go on to gain eyps (i mean those with little experience- dont want to offend anyone who has a real vocation to childcare)

[HappyMaz]

i feel other staff who are doing nvq4 and foundation degree with a view to gaining eyps in the long term will feel put out as they have a wealth of experience and knowledge and are slogging really hard to gain quals and she could technically gain status in 2 years with not a clue about children!!! seem unfair that anyone with a degree can go on to gain eyps (i mean those with little experience- dont want to offend anyone who has a real vocation to childcare)

However if degree-educated practitioners are being asked to undertake a level 3 qualification then this will circumvent the EYPS programme - there is already a pathway for them to achieve the Status. I think I'm right in saying that there is no ceiling on the number of people who can gain EYPS in any one setting. So you could encourage this practitioner to do EYPS, thus attracting funding to your setting which in turn can be used to support the others to gain the necessary qualifications.

 

Have you spoken to your Local Authority/EYPS training provider about your options?

 

Maz

 

PS I hear what you say about making a distinction between those with little experience and those with a real vocation to childcare. This lady is volunteering with you to get the experience she needs, even though she has a BA in Childhood Studies. I'd say that was a firm commitment to wanting a career in childcare!

[Guest]

However if degree-educated practitioners are being asked to undertake a level 3 qualification then this will circumvent the EYPS programme - there is already a pathway for them to achieve the Status. I think I'm right in saying that there is no ceiling on the number of people who can gain EYPS in any one setting. So you could encourage this practitioner to do EYPS, thus attracting funding to your setting which in turn can be used to support the others to gain the necessary qualifications.

 

Have you spoken to your Local Authority/EYPS training provider about your options?

 

Maz

 

PS I hear what you say about making a distinction between those with little experience and those with a real vocation to childcare. This lady is volunteering with you to get the experience she needs, even though she has a BA in Childhood Studies. I'd say that was a firm commitment to wanting a career in childcare!

am going to speak to advisor this week as the best path for her to take, hope i didnt come across as mean as i really appreciate her volunteering and this is the only way she can improve practice and become more confident , thats why i have offered her a position as i feel in time she will be an assett to the group, i like to give people a chance and hope she will benefit and enjoy a career in childcare

[HappyMaz]

am going to speak to advisor this week as the best path for her to take, hope i didnt come across as mean as i really appreciate her volunteering and this is the only she can improve practice and become more confident , thats why i have offered her a position as i feel in time she will be an assett to the group, i like to give people a chance and hope she will benefit and enjoy a career in childcare

I think its admirable that you're prepared to give her a chance, jaycooks - which is all the more reason for your group to benefit from the Graduate Leadership Fund if she decides to go for EYPS!

 

I'll be interested to see what your LA thinks about her doing a Level 3 though - will you let us know what they say?

 

Maz

[aan]

I'm feel the same as Maz here,

i don't thing you will be able to get any funding for NVQ,

i have tried myself, i have a very good volunteer with a NVQ in customer services and i can't get any funding for her to do a level 3

[Guest]

I'm feel the same as Maz here,

i don't thing you will be able to get any funding for NVQ,

i have tried myself, i have a very good volunteer with a NVQ in customer services and i can't get any funding for her to do a level 3

spoke to LA who said that BA is a childcare qual and cant get funding suggested eyps but the girl doent feel ready for it and would rather do level3!!!! oh well back to square one!!!

[HappyMaz]

spoke to LA who said that BA is a childcare qual and cant get funding suggested eyps but the girl doent feel ready for it and would rather do level3!!!! oh well back to square one!!!

Can I ask why she feels the need to do the Level 3 though? - she will have covered theorists in her degree so she will have a good understanding of why and how children learn. She clearly lacks experience though, and she'll get this with you. Does your Local Authority put on 'workshop' training that she can access to plug some of her gaps?

 

Perhaps a way forward would be for you both to sit down and identify what her particular gaps are and devise a training plan to enable her to prepare for EYPS? She'll be classed as 'unqualified' as far as Ofsted are concerned, but I think I remember you saying you have other staff members who are qualified so that might not be so crucial in this case.

 

Its certainly a challenge isn't it?

 

Maz

[Guest]

Can I ask why she feels the need to do the Level 3 though? - she will have covered theorists in her degree so she will have a good understanding of why and how children learn. She clearly lacks experience though, and she'll get this with you. Does your Local Authority put on 'workshop' training that she can access to plug some of her gaps?

 

Perhaps a way forward would be for you both to sit down and identify what her particular gaps are and devise a training plan to enable her to prepare for EYPS? She'll be classed as 'unqualified' as far as Ofsted are concerned, but I think I remember you saying you have other staff members who are qualified so that might not be so crucial in this case.

 

Its certainly a challenge isn't it?

 

Maz

good ideas there maz!! ill have a chat with her and certainly do as you suggest re workshops, im not that up on eyps as its a distant dream for me!!! im doing level 4 ccld at present as could not time manage foundation degree due to working 40 hours, one of my team is doing it but only works 15 hours, to be honest the l4 is so dumbed down!!!!! the assessor is pants!!! she will do an observation and claim lots of knowlwdge evidence in one sentence, where as to write it one eaier statement could be at least 3 pages!! im an assessor and internal verifier and if i was iv ing i would question her judgement!!! i was told that level 4 counted as first year of FD but now told they are not sure!! i can see why as it gives you no acedemic grounding and after seeing work set (im mentoring staff member) i can see why!!! one girl who really struggled with L3 is flying through level 4!! i digress from original topic, so rant over!!!!!

[HappyMaz]

i digress from original topic, so rant over!!!!!

Sounds like you have quite a job here to pull together the various strands of your training plans, jaycooks! You're lucky to have practitioners committed to training and CPD, and they are lucky to have you overseeing their training! Your professional knowledge means you have a clear understanding what a Level 3 or 4 practitioner looks (or should look) like, and so even if the qualification has been gained, you'll know what extra support to give in order to help them become fully-rounded practitioners.

 

Why does life have to be so complicated?

 

Maz

[Guest]

I haven't heard this, but one thought does occur to me - will she (and your setting) get funding to do an NVQ if she already has a degree? What is her degree in? Has she thought about EYPS in the longer term after she gets some experience? Until then she would be classified as unqualified though - but you could be giving 'on the job' training and the support she needs!

 

Just a thought - would be interested to see what other people think.

 

Maz

keep getting conflicting advice about what status she is classed as!! LA said shes qualified and cant get funding for L3, the CWDC site says shes a L3! . ofsted say shes qualified!!! yet another inspector say shes not!!! we are just going for lots of inhouse training until she feels ready to go for EYPS, then theres the headache of which is the most suitable pathway!!! oh well we can never say our job isnt interesting or challenging!!! probably wouldnt want it any other way!!!

[Inge]

and they expect us to understand their system for deciding who is qualified

 

...think they need training to understand it themselves first...

 

Inge

[louby loo]

oh well we can never say our job isnt interesting or challenging!!! probably wouldnt want it any other way!!!

 

 

It's because we like going 'round and round and round and round' in circles so much that we work in childcare!!!!

 

 

xxxxx

[HappyMaz]

It's because we like going 'round and round and round and round' in circles so much that we work in childcare!!!!

So what you're really saying is that CWDC/Ofsted have one giant rotation schema!