Eyps

[Guest]

Does any one know if we employ an EYPS how many hours they have to do. Do they have to be on the premises the whole time you are open or can they be part time and work just a few hours? We are looking into employing an EYPS between a group of us pre-schools as we can't afford to have one each. We are all pre-schools and owners that are to old or don't want to do the EYPS. We also don't have staff that want to go on and do the course, so we felt that if we had one person split between us we could afford the wage.

We haven't been able to find anywhere that says how many hours the person has to do.

So if anyone has any info it would be appreciated.

 

We are looking to become an association of private pre-schools so the EYPS would be employed by the association to work for us all.

 

Thanks

 

Steph

[HappyMaz]

I guess the answer depends on why you're asking the question, which might seem a strange thing to say.

 

I'm not sure it says anything in the welfare requirements about the percentage of time you need to employ an EYP for, it just gives the details of the ratio of adults to children that you can operate when you have an EYP working alongside a Level 3 practitioner. In any case the need for settings to employ an EYP may be changed as a result of the review of the EYFS and/or the effects of the Comprehensive Spending Review.

 

If it is for the purposes of funding (if your Single Funding Formula has a quality enhancement based on qualifications) then the best bet is to ask your Local Authority. A clue may be found in your LA's terms and conditions for the Graduate Leadership Fund!

 

One question I'd be keen to ask as a potential candidate for the EYP's role is how effective I think I could be in raising standards and leading and supporting staff if I shared my time between several settings? A large part of the EYP's job is to model good practice and act as a change agent and I would need to be convinced that I could manage this effectively if I were to work for more than two settings.

 

That said, a lot depends on the opening hours of the settings, and how much work there is to do in each!

 

Good luck with your quest - if you find out the answer please come back and share!

[Guest]

thanks Maz

The reason is that our borough is lowering our funding in April and I will be loosing 30p per child per hour. I'm open 9-3.30 and I couldn't afford to have another person being paid more than my leader at themoment let alone when the EYSFF comes in. My leader is great but she doesn't want to do the EYPS and all my staff are just finishing their NVQ3's at the moment. I'm 55 yr old and didn't take any GCSE so would have to take both english and maths before doing my degree. Its all very well having great ideas but I hardly take home a decent wage now. I will have to make someone redundant (possibly in the cards any way if the funding doesn't go up) I'm in a no win situation after 20 years of working in child care and building up a business from near closure, all for what to be told I can't run it any longer if I don't employ some one else.

All to get an extra 24p in the supplement of the funding.

 

 

Seems all a bit one sided and not looking at my view or business.

 

Sorry just had a day of it

[hali]

Steph as it stands only full day care need an EYP by 2015 - not pre schools - obviously may change when we find out more about funding - one way or the other

[HappyMaz]

Steph as it stands only full day care need an EYP by 2015 - not pre schools - obviously may change when we find out more about funding - one way or the other

How is this affected by the fact that I as a pre-school am classed as full day care because of lunch clubs and extended day hali? I thought the old sessional/full day care classifications had disappeared with the introduction of the new 'childcare on non-domestic premises' category anyway?

 

In any case this is a redundant argument if a Local Authority offers a funding enhancement on the basis of having a Level 6 practitioner on the staff because the debate turns not into what the Government policy states, but how funding levels are affected if you don't have an EYP on the team.

 

I can well understand why an idea of sharing an EYP between settings such as the one steph describes looks an attractive proposition. However I have a sneaking suspicion that most Local Authorities would argue that they are paying an uplift for an increase in standards and quality of provision. They might well conclude that an EYP would need to spend a considerable amount of time working with children alongside practitioners in order to maintain a track record of continual self-reflection and improvement in quality.

 

Of course there is also the argument that there are good EYPs as well as less effective ones, and I'm not suggesting that EYPs have the monopoly on raising standards. The research may be clear, however the EYP programme offers many challenges in practice, not least the ones that steph describes where practitioners are unable or unwilling to undertake the extra study needed to achieve the Status.

 

As the owner of my setting I was lucky in that I could take advantage of the opportunities offered to me and of course I'm going to be positive about the benefits of achieving the status both for me personally and for the quality of my setting's provision. However quality costs, and issues such as those steph raises in her post will need to be considered carefully and addressed effectively if Local Authorities want to be able to encourage more people to achieve the Status and then to retain them in the workforce.

 

That is of course, if the Government doesn't move the goalposts again in the meantime!

[Guest]

I think as someone else has said the definition is best coming from your LA. In my area this kind of idea might be favourably looked upon but then we are in the process of defining very strict criteria for deciding how an EYP impacts on practice in a setting. I know someone who is employed as an EYP in a small chain and she works across the three settings. She could demonstrate a good impact on the provision were she left to do the EYP aspect of her job, but the settings often pull her into to doing different things. On a positive note, sharing an EYP could demonstrate good link working between your settings and s/he could also help you all share good practice by seeing different approaches in the different settings. Ultimately though the answer to your question seems to come down to eligibility for funding so it will be a decision to be taken with your LA.

[SueJ]

Steph as it stands only full day care need an EYP by 2015 - not pre schools - obviously may change when we find out more about funding - one way or the other

 

Hi Steph - I think you are in the next door authority to mine - south coast beginning with P for you and B for me. I don't know the answer to your question but in our authority we have provider contracts coming into force in Jan 2011. These state that you must have an EYP in place in full daycare from 2015 even though the last government downgraded the requirement to an aspiration. If you don't have one you must have a plan in place to have one. As Holly35 says probably best to chat to someone in your LA for a definitive answer as I don't think that there will be a global one - best of luck