Training organisations have expressed concerns about the planning and timescale of the Government’s desire to have all of England’s early years childcare workforce trained to at least Level 3.

The Government has given the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) the task of developing a new Level 3 qualification, which will be the minimum standard for the sector.

But training providers are worried about the large number of people in the sector who will need to undertake further training to reach Level 3, and how this training will be accomplished and paid for in such a relatively short time.

Asked how the CWDC is going to get the entire childcare workforce in England up to Level 3 by 2015, a spokesman said, “CWDC has been asked by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to define a full and relevant Level 3 qualification, as part of a wider commitment to produce a simple and rational structure to qualifications offered in our sector set in the 2020 Children and Young People's Strategy. 

“This qualification will have three pathways: Learning Development and Support Services (LDSS), Early Years and Children’s Social Care. CWDC will work closely with key stakeholders to ensure delivery.”

Although the CWDC has been asked by the Government “to define a full and relevant Level 3 qualification” for the sector, it has admitted that it has no idea of the number of people working in the sector who are not qualified to Level 3. However, an unofficial estimate has put the figure as high as 40 per cent of the workforce.

Training providers have welcomed the aspiration of a well-trained childcare workforce but are concerned about how this will be achieved in so short a time. Sue Overton of Sue Overton Associates Training and Management Consultants, said, “The aspirations of the Government to upskill and develop a world-leading early years workforce are to be commended and embraced. However, it is critical in order to achieve these goals that a carefully thought out plan of implementation is developed.

“If a fully-qualified Level 3 workforce is the goal we are chasing, there needs to be a well thought out and costed plan which addresses how over the next five years we can train the shortfall of staff, and then calculate the ongoing costs of training taking into account the staff turnover and development of the sector.”

Alice Lewes of the Alice Lewes Consultancy added, “We’re very concerned about the quality of training that’s going to be available. There’s going to be a huge lack of funding and we are worried that people are going to take the shortest possible route to achieving the qualification so that they will meet the Ofsted requirement. What sort of quality assurance is the CWDC putting in place to ensure that that is not the case?

“No-one is objecting in any way, shape or form to the principle and ideal of a highly-qualified workforce. What we’re objecting to is the dictating of it and the lack of clear thinking about how it’s going to happen. If you get rid of the Level 2, that’s going to make a lot more people unemployed. Who’s going to replace them and how are you going to pay the extra salaries for the Level 3s?”

Dr Richard Dorrance, Chief Executive of the early years awarding body the Council for Awards in Children's Care and Education (CACHE), which is working with the CWDC on the development of the new Level 3 qualification, warned that the requirement that all qualified practitioners must have a Level 3 qualification by 2015 may deter new entrants to the profession.

He said, “Most entrants to the sector start with no qualification and acquire their Level 3 by undertaking a Level 2 qualification and then a Level 3 qualification. Stepping-stone qualifications will still be needed, particularly for older candidates returning to training and for those who did not prosper at school.”

In its strategy document, Next steps for early learning and childcare: Building on the 10-year strategy, published in January, the Government spelled out its desire for a well-qualified early years workforce by 2015.

The document said, “To demonstrate the importance we attach to attracting, developing and retaining a high-quality workforce, we will work with partners to ensure that everyone working in early years provision has a full and relevant qualification of at least level three (equivalent to A-level) and consider making this a requirement from 2015; consider making it a legal requirement that every full daycare setting has a graduate from 2015; (and) pilot a programme to attract top graduates into the workforce.”

At the time, Beverley Hughes, the then Minister for Children, said, “Early learning and childcare professionals need to have the same level of professionalism as teachers. This is why we are considering making it a legal requirement for anyone working in early learning or childcare to have at least an A Level or equivalent relevant qualification from 2015.”