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SCHOOL'S OUT: Framework for the Development of Out-of-School Care
Section 7
Quality
What we mean by quality
Quality is a complex issue. Quality means different things to different people and to various stakeholders. Quality themes include:
- the aims of the provider (for example, providing a wide range of activities and including children in need and children with additional support needs and raising awareness of cultural diversity);
- the range of facilities (for example, equipment, open space, health and safety standards);
- staffing (for example, experience, skills, training and qualifications and understanding children);
- environment (for example, child-centred services and relationships with other children);
- accessibility (for example, facilities for children with disabilities);
- good communication with parents; and
- parental needs (for example, opening times, flexibility and reliability).
These themes are discussed briefly in a report produced by consultants on management models and business planning. 5
The focused consultation with children reinforced these aspects of quality and how they relate directly to the child's experience. The children certainly appreciated a wide range of indoor and outdoor activities and opportunities to socialise with friends and caring staff. Some children did not like lack of space or too much noise (which may reflect the lack of appropriate space).
The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care
The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (the Care Commission) was set up under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 to regulate care services. The Act provides the Care Commission with powers relating to the core elements of regulation - registration, inspection, complaints and enforcement. Anyone wishing to provide a care service has to meet the statutory requirements listed in the legislation to make sure the care service is of a high standard and quality before it opens for business. The Care Commission will issue a Certificate of Registration if the proposed care service meets the requirements.
Every year, Care Commission must inspect all care services covered by the Act to monitor the quality of care provided to people who use the care service.
The national care standards for childcare are intended to assess the quality of services for children and young people up to the age of 16 years which are regulated under the Act. The range of services covered includes after-school clubs.
(See: www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/health/ncseec-00.asp )
The standards have been developed from the point of view of the users of the services - children and parents. They focus on the quality-of-life that everyone using the service actually experiences. The standards reflect the rights of children and young people, as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The main principles are dignity, choice, safety, realising potential and equality and diversity.
Quality-assurance schemes
Quality assurance is a way of measuring the service provided. In childcare, it is a way of looking at all aspects of the service from management practices to the range of activities provided for children. The Scottish Out of School Care Network promotes a quality-assurance scheme called 'Aiming High Scotland'. This scheme looks at all aspects of the service from managing the club to the daily activities. Clubs are assessed against standards at three levels - good, very good and excellent. Sixteen quality areas are assessed including commitment to quality, staffing, equal opportunities, premises and management. There are other similar schemes too.
OSC workforce - the challenges
DTZ PIEDA Consulting produced an Economic Scoping Study of Children's Services Labour Markets in Scotland on our behalf. This research will be available soon on: www.scotland.gov.uk/insight . The study highlighted the lack of detailed data on the children's services workforce, especially for those people who are lowest paid and qualified. This study recognises the opportunities in, and challenges of, OSC. The main conclusions in relation to OSC are as follows.
Information The clubs had a greater percentage of male staff (8%) than was found in pre-school centres.
The percentage of OSC employees holding a qualification is around half the percentage of pre-school centre staff.
Recruitment problems, especially in rural areas.
Skills gap -lack of experience and qualifications of the people applying.
Lack of employer support for in-work training.
The larger OSC services that are run as businesses offer more career opportunities.
The findings from the Scoping Study (which reinforce our and the sector's previous knowledge) will influence our actions for developing the childcare workforce. |
The findings from the Scoping Study (which reinforce our and the sector's previous knowledge) will influence our actions for developing the childcare workforce.
Workforce - action
We believe that increasing the skills of the early-years and childcare workforce (including in OSC) will benefit children by improving the quality of care they receive. It will help to improve the overall status of the workforce because people will no longer think of childcare as being unskilled or easy.
In 2005-2006 the early-years and childcare workforce will have to register with
the Scottish Social Services Council. The details of this still have to be decided. However, we expect that to register, workers will need to either have an appropriate qualification or be working towards one.
Information The Scottish Social Services Council will consult the early-years and childcare sector (probably in summer 2003) about which qualifications people need to register with them. |
We want to increase the training opportunities for early-years and childcare workers, to do what we can to free up routes in the early-years and childcare sector, and improve the status of early education and childcare as a career.
Information What we have done and what we will do Published an action plan called Childcare: The Training Challenge in 2000. Published Working with Children in 2000. Provided extra funding to local authorities to expand and develop the workforce. From 2003 - 2006 an extra 15.6 million is being made available to local authorities for expanding and developing the workforce. Commissioned research into the content of childcare qualifications, which will analyse gaps and overlaps in existing qualifications with the aim of simplifying the structure. Carry out the pre-school education and day-care census every year, building on the information provided in 2002. |
Career progression is a matter for employers but it is closely linked to the structure of the early-years and childcare qualifications. The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is committed to reviewing its range of qualifications as part of a continuous programme.
Local Enterprise Companies (LECs) throughout Scotland (the enterprise bodies) have a role to play in delivering the childcare strategy, including developing the workforce. We are now working with Scottish Enterprise (SEn) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to develop the workforce.
Along with SQA, local authorities, childcare partnerships, LECs and employers, we need to take action. Providers also need to charge realistic fees and make realistic assessments about parents' ability to pay if they are to increase investment in the workforce. We must help spread messages to parents about the value of
good-quality childcare because of its benefits to children and reinforce messages about being prepared to pay realistic fees. Increased investment in this way should help develop the workforce even more and help our childcare provision become sustainable.
Workforce - local innovation
There are some very good examples of innovative approaches to workforce recruitment, development and training.
Good practice Recruitment, induction and staff development Peace of Mind for Parents (POMP) offers job profiles before interviews. When Lisa was appointed, she took part in an eight-week induction and training programme when she worked with a manager at base before taking charge of a POMP service in Lenzie. Katrina has worked at POMP for eight years. She manages the OSC service at Condorrat Primary School. Katrina feels that the staff get a lot of support. She especially values the opportunities for sharing skills and for discussing activities and issues that have arisen - both the successes, and the things that have not gone so well. These discussions are often part of formal monthly management meetings, followed by monthly team meetings for each service. The Deputy Executive Director of POMP is the line manager for all the supervisors. She goes to the meetings and is available to support staff. She says: 'We recognise the value of developing and maintaining quality standards and to this end have been actively involved in developing YMCA National Quality Standards ... and we currently hold this award. The SQMS award is relevant to our needs and incorporates staff development as an integral part of its process. Comprehensive policies and procedures must be in place and these must be owned and understood by the workforce.' |
Some children who took part in the focused consultation with children made positive comments about the staff in their clubs as follows:
'The leaders are good to talk to.'
'The leaders are nice and friendly.'
'I like talking to the staff and playing with my friends.'
Parents whose children go to Hyndland after-school club in Glasgow have commented favourably about the staff in the club as follows:
'As a parent, it is a great comfort to know that Jan never has a problem approaching any of the staff about any matter. In fact, quite often he comes home singing their praises.'
'I myself find Annie very easy to talk to. She is very approachable, always welcoming, polite and interested in the children's welfare which she is always happy to discuss.'
'Thank you for the excellent service all of you at the after-school club provide.
The children are always active and have a great time there.'
'Thank you so much for providing Robbie with a real learning experience for the first three years of school life. You have given him "home-from-home", care, support, and most of all, kindness.'
Good practice Working with children in need Stirling Council, in partnership with Play Plus, provide training for staff in OSC in the necessary skills to work confidently with children in need. Lauder College, on behalf of Fife Council, provides training to OSC staff to work with children in need in the PALS and CSNIPS projects. PALS provides a 'play friend' for children in need in OSC. The play friend provides one-to-one support for the child when necessary, works with the parent or carer and offers support, training and advice to OSC staff. The aim of the play friend is to eventually withdraw the support when the child is fully involved in the project. CSNIPS provides a play friend for the under-5s in playgroups or nurseries. Fife childcare partnership supports both the PALS and CSNIPS projects. It funds a special-needs resource base where projects get access to specialist equipment, toys and books to support children. Fife Council has had a very good response to its initiative of putting leaflets in children's school bags to recruit OSC staff to work with children in need or with additional support needs. Unqualified staff are now working towards SVQs. Fife Council decided to try this approach to recruiting staff because there was a poor response to adverts in local papers and job centres. |
Sometimes, workers are needed at short notice to cover for sickness, absence or staff training. It is not always easy to get staff in OSC because, unlike the pre-school sector, there are no agencies with a supply of staff. There are a few local initiatives to help deal with this issue.
Good practice The East Lothian Out of School Care Network (ELOSCN) is setting up a supply bank of staff with community-development crèche workers, playgroup staff and after-school care staff. These workers will all need to complete an introductory training course. ELOSCN will employ staff and monitor progress and hopes the supply bank will be available in April 2003. |
Sometimes, staff working in OSC combine the role of playworker with other work, for example, as a classroom assistant or in youth work. This 'portfolio working' can add extra hours to a part-time job as well as combine common interest areas and offer greater opportunities for career development. There are some examples of good portfolio working.
Good practice Richard works as a playleader at Bellyeoman out-of-school club in Dunfermline. At the club, Richard is involved in both the breakfast club and the after-school club. He also works part time as a special-needs auxiliary at the nearby Townhill Primary School. Richard says: 'Learning from one job makes the other easier. It works both ways.' Richard is also studying for an HNC in Childcare and Education at Lauder College. Louise is a playleader at Pitcorthie out-of-school club and is also a classroom assistant at Pitreavie Primary School. Fortunately, her two workplaces are near to each other. Louise enjoys the variety in her work and finds the two jobs convenient for her. Barbara is a 'play friend' employed by ENABLE. (ENABLE is an organisation that helps children, young people and adults with learning disabilities to become self-advocates and to have an influence over matters that affect their lives). Barbara accompanies a young person with additional support needs to Pitcorthie out-of-school club school three days a week. During the day, Barbara is a special educational needs auxiliary. Portfolio working will not necessarily provide a solution in all cases. And it is important for staff working in OSC, when they arrive at the club, to give themselves enough time for team briefings and for planning the day or week. |
Men in childcare
We support efforts to increase the number of men working in childcare. It is good for men to work in childcare because of the benefits for children. Children should have a variety of role models when they are growing up. If childcare, pre-school education and primary education remain mainly female occupations, this will not happen.
We wrote to local authorities in January 2003 giving examples of areas that the extra workforce funding can be used in. One area is increasing the diversity of the early-years and childcare workforce.
Good practice Simon completed a sports qualification but as there were very few opportunities in sports, he had to look for another job. He has now been working for Childcare Connections in Edinburgh for three years. Simon is a playcare leader. He says that all staff, male and female, are treated equally. Parents are pleasantly surprised to see him working at the club. Tom originally trained as a welder and worked in industry for many years before being made redundant. He then started work in Childcare Connections. A typical day for Tom is varied. Duties include crèche, driving and sessional playwork. Tom goes to college two hours a week and is hoping to finish SVQ level 2 in Playwork in spring 2003. Tom enjoys his work and feels that his life is enriched through working with children. |
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