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CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND TO THE CONSULTATION
THE CONSULTATION
The consultation "National Review of the Early Years and Childcare Workforce" was launched by the Minister for Education and Young People on 10 August 2006. The consultation comprised two written consultation papers and a series of five workshops. The main consultation paper posed a series of twenty-one questions. Four questions aimed specifically at childminders and five targeted at individual childcare workers were issued in a separate consultation paper. 2
Copies of the two written consultation papers were distributed to a wide range of organisations and individuals with an interest in the early years and childcare workforce. Around three thousand five hundred hard copies of the consultation papers were sent out largely to representative bodies to distribute further to their members. All employers registered with the Care Commission received the consultation documents for their staff. The consultation was further publicised on the Scottish Executive website and also on the websites of a range of other organisations such as Learning Teaching Scotland, Scottish Childminding Association and the Care Commission.
The written consultation period ran from 10 August 2006 until 22 December 2006, although this closing date was subsequently extended to 5 January 2007 to allow for late responses during the Christmas holiday period.
The five workshops took place between 6 November and 4 December 2006. Participants at the workshops included early years and childcare managers, training providers, individual workers and local authority representatives. Four of the workshops took place in Edinburgh, Glasgow or Dundee. The remaining workshop was conducted via video-link to enable participants in remote island areas to participate more readily.
A press release helped publicise the consultation papers. In announcing the consultation the Minister for Education and Young People said:
"Nursery and childcare workers are key professionals who make a difference to thousands of children's lives every day. Their skills, professionalism and dedication must be recognised, so that our children continue to benefit from even higher quality pre-school and childcare services. I have set out a plan today to ensure that families have access to the high-quality, flexible services they need.
I did not create this plan on my own. I asked the experts - the profession itself - to tell me what needed to happen to improve their services and careers. Their report has helped me to understand the challenges and opportunities in pre-school and childcare professions, and has directly informed my response. Now I want to continue this dialogue with the profession as we work out the detail of how we implement these changes.
We have set out concrete steps to help improve our already high quality childcare and early years' provision. The status, recognition and professional development of nursery and childcare staff across the country will improve, giving them the opportunity to develop their expertise and build long, satisfying and rewarding careers which will deliver consistently higher quality services the length and breadth of Scotland."
The consultation papers sought comments on the key proposal to develop a single, shared framework to encompass the diverse roles and responsibilities of the early years and childcare workforce. Other main proposals were to introduce new qualifications for managers, develop a career structure for all early years and childcare workers and provide ongoing training and development. The workshops focused on two central questions. Firstly, they asked for views on what would make a SCQF level 9 qualification flexible; and secondly, for views on how to ensure there are clear pathways between existing qualifications and a new SCQF level 9 qualification.
By the final cut-off date for receipt of responses, three hundred and seventy four responses had been made to the written consultations and have been included in this analysis. 3 (A further two responses were received after the extended cut-off point, and have not been included in this analysis.) In addition, the consultation workshops attracted two hundred and ten participants.
CONTEXT
The National Review of the Early Years and Childcare Workforce was announced by the Minister for Education and Young People in June 2004. The Review group was chaired by the Scottish Executive and involved representatives of the main stakeholders extending from key representative bodies, training bodies and service providers to parents. Its overall task was to improve employment opportunities for early years and childcare staff and raise the status of the sector, including:
- Examining and defining the role and responsibilities of staff in the early years, childcare and play workforce;
- Determining an approach to national workforce planning;
- Rationalising and modernising early years/childcare qualifications, ensuring that they are appropriate for the different sectors of the workforce;
- Developing vertical and lateral career pathways which provide for progression within a chosen area and lateral movement between different sectors of the workforce;
- Consider the implications of these considerations for pay and conditions.
For the purposes of the Review, the workforce under consideration was defined as those groups of workers who are required to be registered with the Scottish Social Services Council and who work in:
- Early years care and learning;
- Out of school care and in playwork
As well as:
- Childminders who are registered with the Care Commission
A decision was taken that the Review should not include teachers working in early years settings as the teaching workforce had only recently been subject to a major review. However the Review group recognised that there was not a clear boundary round the workforce.
The Review focused on five main workstreams with working groups set up to examine each in detail:
- Roles and responsibilities
- Qualifications and training
- Career pathways
- Recruitment and retention
- Workforce planning
The National Review of the Early Years and Childcare Workforce consultation is intended to inform the implementation of Investing in Children's Futures, the Scottish Executive's response to the work of the Review. Published in August 2006, it seeks the views of a wide range of early years and childcare staff and organisations on the key topics which formed the Review team's remit. The responses to the written consultation have been made publicly available in the Scottish Executive library unless the respondent has specifically requested otherwise.
The remainder of the report presents the "story" of the consultation, - the consultation process ( Chapter 2), respondents' views on that process (Chapter 3), and the findings of the analysis ( Chapters 4-10).
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