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Section 7: Early Years and Childcare - A Developing Profession

Childcare has never been a job "anyone can do". As our understanding of its importance increases, so must our recognition that we need to employ only those people with the combination of skills, aptitudes and understanding necessary to deliver the outcomes we want for children.

Raising the Status

7.1 A key thread running through this Review, that workers in the sector express, is that the work that they do is undervalued. Too often it is seen as a job "anyone can do" - unskilled and requiring no specialist knowledge and little training. By contrast, the workforce itself argues that working in the early years and childcare sector requires the same level of skill and knowledge as professionals working with children in other settings and that it should have a similar status to those professions. The Review members endorse this view. Furthermore, the remit set for the Review by Scottish Ministers explicitly mentions raising the status of the workforce.

In recognition of the importance of these roles, the level of knowledge and skills necessary for their delivery, and the widening responsibilities of workers, we are suggesting an increase in the qualifications required for registration with the SSSC.

7.2 The workforce provides services for children and young people of various ages in many types of setting including early years, out of school care, childminding and playwork. Workers develop programmes of play, learning opportunities and experiences in dialogue with children, their families and neighbourhood networks that reflect both the needs of individual children and families, and the specific location of the places/centres in which they work. In addition, workers are increasingly called on to promote the health and well-being of children and to provide specialist support to children with complex and diverse additional support needs. The roles and responsibilities framework provides a strong basis for a wider recognition of the importance and value of this work. It offers a useful clarification of the contribution the workforce makes to children's development and to helping them become successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.

We are clear that there should continue to be a range of routes into work in early years and childcare, including both work-based and academic routes at all levels.

7.3 But we are equally clear that our proposals will mean that current and future members of the workforce must have the capacity and the willingness to qualify at this enhanced level; to be the reflective practitioners needed to work effectively with all our children. Childcare has never been a job "anyone can do". As our understanding of its importance increases, so must our recognition that we need to employ only those people with the combination of skills, aptitudes and understanding necessary to deliver the outcomes we want for children.

7.4 Increasing expectations about what the workforce does and about the qualifications required will also increase workers' expectations about remuneration. Pay and conditions were not part of the Review's remit, but we recognise that our proposals have implications for these issues, which in turn have implications for the costs of early years and childcare services and affordability of the services for parents. Ministers and employers will need to consider this.

Towards a Profession

7.5 The workforce is already moving towards a more professional basis. An increasing percentage of the workforce now possess a childcare qualification, and regulation through registration with the SSSC will commence in 2006, and will provide a further driver towards qualification. In Scotland a "new" profession is beginning to emerge and bring together all those who work in Early Years and Childcare. We explored whether there really is potential for a new profession and how we can facilitate its development.

7.6 The term "profession" is generally applied to a group of workers possessing a unique set of skills, knowledge and values. By definition, therefore, there is an element of exclusivity inherent in a profession - engagement in a task or activities which require this specialised combination of attributes. The early years and childcare workforce encompasses a range of specialisms embedded in a unique core of knowledge, skills, values and commitments that focuses on children and young people's care, learning and development in the social contexts of their childhoods. Together with the qualification and regulation drivers mentioned above, these characteristics suggest that we are moving towards identification of a new profession, bringing together all those who work in early years and childcare. In addition, the workforce demonstrates key skills and abilities which are shared by other professions, such as communication and teamworking, evidence-based reflective practice, and working co-operatively with agencies, families and communities.

What is the New Profession?

7.7 In Scotland we have already started the process of professionalising the early years and childcare workforce. However, we have barely started the debate on what the new profession might look like. We are only now beginning to bring together the different elements of the emerging profession.

7.8 Over the past few years, in the early years sector in particular, there has been increasing discussion of how children learn and develop and what we understand by pedagogy in Scotland. Our current understanding of pedagogy has been defined as, "about learning, teaching and development, influenced by the cultural, social and political values and principles that we have for children in Scotland, and underpinned by a strong theoretic base." ⁵ We considered whether the growing awareness of pedagogy and the emphasis that we have placed on all workers contributing to all aspects of a common framework means that the time is right to look at the pedagogue model.

7.9 Pedagogues are professionals who work with children, and often adults, across a range of settings including in the early years and with school age children. They work with the whole child with the emphasis on living beside children and working through situations and relationships, recognising that learning and care are inseparable. Their work is based around children's upbringing; how children develop their identity and relationships as part of their community and wider society.

7.10 We know that, currently, workers within, for example, nursery settings have a range of titles - including teacher, nursery nurse, parent's worker, practitioner and early childhood educator. In out of school care and playwork, there are yet more titles. This reflects the complexity of the context, the cultural and historic traditions and the diversity of roles and responsibilities. However, we are clear that many of the current job titles which include the words, "care", "minding" and "nursing" all imply a one-way relationship and do not reflect the nature of the interaction workers in the sector have with children, parents and with other professionals.

7.11 We believe that a key task is to develop a new language to capture the challenge and complexity of work within early years and childcare services. This needs to reflect a growing professional status across the workforce and to reveal the dynamic, two-way process with children and young people as they engage in and develop throughout their childhoods. It also needs to represent the whole sector and to articulate the common elements of the emerging profession.

7.12 In some countries where pedagogues have been around for a long time (like Sweden), they are now beginning to take even further steps to "integrate" the pedagogue with other professional groups and drop the name pedagogue altogether. The developing role of the pedagogue seems to reflect well the widening range of roles and responsibilities and the growing interconnectedness of Scotland's early years and childcare workforce with others in improving outcomes for children and their families. Whilst the concept of pedagogues is a useful example, it is an unfamiliar term. We need to find a language that works for Scotland.

7.13 We have begun to identify the steps required to build the profession but the building will take time. As we refine the roles and responsibilities, and the knowledge, skills, values and commitments that make the professional group unique are developed, the principles and standards needed to underpin quality action will become clearer. A description of the profession will then gradually evolve.

7.14 This is a challenging process, but one that has benefits for the workforce and, most importantly, for the quality of services for children.

Consultation Questions

This section sets out the conclusion of the Review which is that we need to build on the existing steps that the sector has been taking towards an even more professional workforce if we are to deliver the best possible services for children and young people.

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