‘These changes mean horrific incidents like Plymouth Nursery will become more and not less likely’

Easy as...? How much harder will these changes make it for children to get a good start?

IF YOU finish this article and conclude that what I’ve have said can’t possibly be true, then welcome to my world.

In meeting after meeting I’ve been waiting (and hoping) for someone to turn around and tell me that I’ve got it all wrong. Sadly, no one has. The reason why is because the changes proposed to the education of childcare workers are as stupid and dangerous as they sound.

So please read on and suspend any sense of disbelief that the welfare of children could be so carelessly disregarded.

So, what is this issue?

In short, it is a reckless reduction in educational standards that childcare practitioners will need to achieve to qualify to look after children. Not only will these changes lead to a poorer quality of childcare provision in Wales, they will also put vulnerable children at greater risk.

This is all about obtaining licence to practice. Or in other words, it is about qualifying to have unsupervised care of babies, toddlers and children. In practical terms it is the qualification you need to set up and manage a day nursery, or to run a flagship Assembly Government scheme such as Flying Start or Sure Start.

The technical explanation of what is happening is that all existing childcare qualifications are being scrapped and replaced with a single Level 3 qualification as part of the transfer of all qualifications onto the new Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). This will mean the scrapping of the existing gold-standard qualification offered by Cache and Edexcel. The new courses come into effect in September 2010, although campaigning from University and College Union (UCU) Cymru has led to a one year delay for the scrapping or existing courses. However, without direct intervention from the Assembly Government this will be only a stay of execution.

Whenever the change is introduced, childcare educators across Wales are warning that the new qualification will leave inadequate time to address in sufficient depth key issues of child protection, developmental sequence and the emotional and nutritional needs of babies and children. To develop and acquire the necessary understanding and knowledge of these issues students currently have to undergo a rigorous academic process of learning.

This isn’t knowledge and understanding that can be acquired through a work placement. This will give you an invaluable practical experience but the quality of childcare is underpinned by the current high standard of education students receive. Under the current qualification, students receive 1100 actual taught hours. The new qualification could have fewer than 300 hours teaching.

How can students, many of whom are sixteen years old, possibly acquire the detailed knowledge and understanding of child protection in such a short space of time? The simple answer is that they can’t. Recent and tragic experience shows that a whole system approach is needed to child protection and welfare. Childcare practitioners must be part of this whole system response, but if they don’t understand the tell-tale signs of a child in danger then the door is being opened to more children slipping through the welfare net. The cold reality is that these changes will mean that horrific incidents like those in the Plymouth Nursery will become more and not less likely. For this reason alone the changes need to be stopped.

Similarly drastic and dangerous cuts are planned for the number of work placements students will be required to undertake. Currently, students are required to undertake a minimum of three successful placements, totaling a minimum of 750 hours (or 25 weeks). This gives them experience of a variety of settings and of children of varying ages. Crucially it also avoids the potentially serious problem where only one work setting can actually reinforce poor practice. A wide and varied placement experience is an essential component of the current qualification.

However, the new qualification will see the minimum number of placements cut from three to one. This means that to qualify as a senior childcare practitioner, students need only undertake a single work placement at just one setting. Worryingly this could actually mean that a student could undertake a placement at a youth club working with older children and end up being qualified to have unsupervised care of six month old babies.

For many of the students we teach the current qualification is a stepping stone to university. The 360 UCAS points (equivalent to three A grade A Levels) that the current qualification attracts is testament to the high esteem in which it is held by universities. The new qualification has no UCAS points attracted to it. For students, the changes that are planned will close off an important progression route into university. Realistically the process of applying for UCAS points takes years and not months, and in any case it is highly unlikely that universities would be prepared to allow points to be awarded to so obviously inferior a qualification.

The lack of UCAS points also underlines just how rushed this process is becoming. Key parts of the new qualification are still unknown and too many questions are still unanswered. However, what we do know gives us real cause for concern.

For the past six months we have been making these arguments to anyone that would listen, including to the education minister Leighton Andrews AM (and before him, Jane Hutt AM). We have had some success with the changes delayed for a year and to their credit ministers have taken our concerns seriously. However, they need to take the next step and stop this change in its tracks. A fuller consultation can then take place on the shape, structure and purpose of the new qualification.

Unless they do act, key Assembly Government policies such as Flying Start and Sure Start could be fatally undermined. These are programmes which depend on highly qualified practitioners. The obvious question is where these practitioners will come from if the courses to train them are scrapped and replaced with lower quality provision.

At the heart of this process is the Care Council for Wales. As the Sector Skills Council with responsibility for this section of the Welsh workforce, the Care Council is leading on developing the new qualification. Normally this would raise the concern that the needs of employers and not children are centre-stage, except in this case we believe employers want high quality childcare practitioners.

This raises the question of exactly who they are listening to. It certainly isn’t those who actually deliver childcare education. As lecturers we were involved belatedly in the process of drawing up this new qualification and only following representations made by UCU to the Assembly Government.

As a trade union we aren’t against change. In fact on most issues we are on the side of change rather than the status quo, but we cannot support change that we feel will damage quality and put children at risk. We hope readers of WalesHome won’t either.

So this all points to an urgent need to halt the entire process and undertake a full consultation on the look and shape of a new childcare qualification. Based on our experience the Care Council for Wales won’t willingly agree to this. Therefore the ball is firmly in the Assembly Government’s court. Up until now there have been efforts to preserve the three countries approach of taking this forward (between Wales, England and Northern Ireland) but there is no reason why this needs to remain the case.

If it is in the interest of our children, why shouldn’t Wales go it alone and opt for a higher quality qualification? Since devolution Wales has led the way on developing ground-breaking children’s policies such as the Children’s Commissioner and the Foundation Phase. This could add to that fine legacy.

I’m grateful to WalesHome.org for indulging this piece. We hope the Assembly Government will indulge us as well. If we are wrong then we will hold our hands up and say so. But what’s wrong in taking a bit more time to make sure we are getting this right? After all we are taking about Wales’ youngest children. There is surely nothing more important.