Staff Payment For Courses

[thumperrabbit]

I was wondering how many charity run pre-schools pay their staff when they are on training courses.

A few years back we used to be able to claim funding from Early Years which was passed onto staff, but that ran out along time ago.

[Guest]

yes, we pay for attendance of short courses such as child protection, first aid etc, although we get the training for free from our children's services. We budget for training but wouldn't be able to pay for attendance if we had to pay for the training too.

 

We don't pay for staff to attend to do chidlcare qualficiations but we do pay for the course (if they don't qualify for train to gain funding ). However, we do have it as part of our terms and conditions of employment that they have to pay the cost of the course back if they leave less than 12 months after completing.

 

I think if they are doing a course to primarily benefit the setting they shouldn't lose out but if it will benefit them greatly and potentially help them to get another job then there should be some give and take.

[Inge]

same as reader rabbit... if we had to pay for the course we could not always aford to pay for attendance... this depended on how subsidised it was... if we only paid a token amount we could pay staff as well.

 

same for childcare qualifications , paid for course, not for time but had a 18month clause if they left they had to repay the costs..

 

If training was essential and we had to do it.. for example first aid or child protection etc we were paid..

 

 

 

Most did end up paid...

 

Inge

[Guest]

We pay staff their normal wages plus the costs of the course, but we do talk together about which courses will most benefit our setting and we don't let them go on everything they ask for.

 

We've had a training grant from our LEA to cover the cost of releasing our Leader to do a foundation degree course, this covers her wages but a bit is left over which goes to her to cover books, travel, etc.

[dublinbay]

We get paid our normal hourly rate for all training we attend plus petrol or public transport costs to get there.

[Deb]

We pay 12 hours training per year per practitioner to attend short courses which clearly doesnt pay a lot but it is something. Ideally it would be more though I think a limit is reasonable. Anything over and above that would be done for the practitioners professional development. If there is money left at the end of the year, perhaps money will be paid to staff in recognition of the extra training they have done.

 

 

I think this was originally based on the method schools use to work out how much training is paid ie 2.5 days per year pro rata (not the correct amount I know).

[Guest]

Yes, same as most, we pay for travel and their hourly rate for the duration of training.

[thumperrabbit]

Thank you for your replies

 

Think I need to speak to the Committee about this, we don't get paid for any training at all. Staff will do the mandatory courses but anything else they won't even give it a 2nd thought.

I feel going on a course isn't always about what you learn on the course it's the networking with the other groups as well, you learn so much more.

[korkycat]

I do agree about the valuable networking you do on courses. We now get paid a training rate (all staff paid the same) for courses and encourage staff to follow particular interests. These are all free courses from Early Years. Basic training is paid for (if they can't get it any other way) but we do include the proviso that they stay a year after qualifying or pay back pro rata.

korkycat