As financial pressures continue to take their toll, practitioners are finding access to continuing professional development (CPD) increasingly challenging.
In its Early Years Workforce Strategy, published in April 2017, the Government makes a strong case for the benefits of CPD. The document also sets out the barriers: prohibitive costs, and lack of free CPD offered by local authorities. But the sector is unconvinced that the strategy does anything to combat those barriers.
‘The document gives a good analysis of the situation, but it is weak on strategic direction,’ says Michael Freeston, director of quality improvement at the Pre-school Learning Alliance (PLA). ‘A year on, there is still no operational plan to say this is what we are going to do and when.’
Childminders face particular barriers. ‘The vast majority of training and development opportunities are offered on weekdays, usually in the middle of the week, when childminders are most likely to be working,’ says Susanna Kalitowski, policy and research manager at PACEY. ‘They are only permitted to leave children with an assistant for two hours, which is generally not enough time to attend a meeting or course. In addition, most childminders must now fund CPD out of their own pockets.’
Trainers and consultants Rebecca Martland and Alison Featherbe organise the Minding the Gap conferences – the next one takes place on 28 April in Brighton (see www.mindingthegapcpd.weebly.com) – and hold regular Professional Development Days for early years practitioners. ‘Over the last few years there has been a drastic reduction in support for early years providers from local authorities,’ says Ms Martland. ‘This has meant that many settings no longer have access to free guidance, training and support. Local authority teams have diminished and continue to do so, and we know that the pressures on providers have increased.’
Ms Featherbe adds: ‘We know the Government recognises the need and benefits of CPD, but it is failing to fund this adequately and the sector needs practical solutions. Just publishing guidance does not mean it automatically happens. Money is precious and funds have to be spent wisely.’
ONLINE RESOURCE
The Workforce Strategy puts forward only two practical solutions – both of which were already in train when the document was published. One is a website, bringing ‘effective online CPD together in one place’ and providing ‘online training modules’. That site, www.eyupskill.org.uk, launched in September. It was developed by the PLA for the DfE, funded by the latter’s voluntary and community sector grant.
Practitioners can use it to search for training by location, subject and level. EYupskill also provides examples of how learners can develop and progress their career. It does not host information about courses directly, nor does it offer ‘online training modules’ as flagged up in the Workforce Strategy; instead it provides links to trainers’ websites. As with all resources developed under grant contracts, the ownership of EYupskill sits with the DfE, and discussions are under way to determine maintenance of the site after funding ends in March.
‘The site is on track to be self-sustainable in April,’ says Sarah Geekie, a spokesperson for EYupskill. ‘Various developments are under way that will provide paid-for “hot spots” and advertorials. Inclusion within the directory will remain free. Its long-term success will depend on the sector’s active engagement with it.’
Not everyone is a fan. ‘Local authorities cannot now require a provider to undertake any training or quality improvement programme unless concerns have been raised by Ofsted,’ says Ms Martland. ‘Providers are free to choose how and where to take up training, which puts the onus on providers to find a trainer or consultant to support them. When they turn to EYupskill, they are confronted with a long list of potential trainers but have no idea how to select the right one.’
‘EYupskill is merely a list of training providers, in no particular order. Trainers can add their details very easily and are not vetted or screened for quality and consistency,’ says Ms Featherbe. ‘In an industry that has vetting, quality and consistency at the heart of everything it does, this does seem just a little odd.’
Ms Featherbe and Ms Martland are members of trainers’ body NEyTCO. ‘NEyTCO has worked closely with EYupskill, and members of NEyTCO are able to have a banner on their profile that assures providers that those trainers are reputable,’ says Ms Martland. ‘Hopefully this will go some way to reassure providers.’
The PLA says results are delivered randomly rather than in alphabetical order so as not to prioritise one provider over another, and trainers cannot pay for the top spot. It also ensures PLA courses are not returned as the first result.
MAINTAINING QUALITY
The second commitment in the CPD section of the Workforce Strategy is the provision of ‘training through voluntary and community sector grants on SEND, speech and language development and effective business management’. Projects include PACEY’s Business Smart, a toolkit to help childminders develop a sustainable business. Nasen also received funding to develop a series of online materials to help early years staff to improve access to provision and outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Nursery World is nasen’s media partner for this SEND training and resources project, which includes an online CPD course.
The strategy encourages trainers to find creative ideas for more cost-effective delivery. ‘Trainers and consultants are already using all their creativity to support settings and childminders with both online and offline training,’ says Catriona Nason, CEO of NEyTCO. ‘Cheaper CPD should not mean less quality.’
NEyTCO recently launched an eLearning Platform which allows members to deliver branded online training. ‘Previously the cost of having their own online training portal was too expensive and a major barrier to delivery,’ says Ms Nason.
‘Now NEyTCO trainers and consultants can operate their own portal, we will see a huge increase in services for providers and practitioners. The CPD needs of the sector are very diverse and so there is no one solution to meet the needs of all. That would be a mistake and if this idea was established by government, the sector would be less likely to use it,’ she adds.
While online training is cost-effective and can work well, ideally it should not be delivered in isolation, says Ms Nason. Paula Holbrook, chief operating officer at Thrive, agrees. Thrive trains early years practitioners, teachers and others in a specific approach to support children’s social and emotional development, based on current findings in neuroscience.
‘E-learning is useful for factual things,’ she says. ‘It also has a role as a refresher, once training is secure and embedded. However, although you can put tests up to see if someone can give the right answer, if there is a concept someone is struggling with they need someone to talk them through it.’
Face-to-face training allows practitioners to use their new knowledge in practice, share their findings and gain feedback. Training like that offered by Thrive is ‘experiential’, allowing practitioners to gain experience of different types of relationships, for example, and talk about the feelings they experience.
However, a face-to-face approach is more expensive than spending a few hours online. ‘We see people going to creative lengths to overcome financial difficulties,’ says Ms Holbrook. ‘Settings pool budgets, for example, so we train groups of settings together.’ Sending one member of staff to a training course, in the hopes that they will then ‘cascade’ their learning back to the rest of the team, is another cost-effective approach – but just because someone has learnt something themselves does not mean they have the skills to effectively impart that to the rest of the team. Thrive makes sure its training includes teaching practitioners how to pass on their learning.
Early years practitioners are not obliged to access a specific amount of training every year. PACEY thinks that this should change. ‘We’ve recommended that government consider amending the registration and inspection framework to require a minimum level of CPD per year, as is the case for other professions such as social work and nursing – and for childcare professionals in other countries,’ says Ms Kalitowski. ‘Ofsted could require early years providers to provide evidence of this CPD as part of a revised leadership and management focus at inspection.’
However creative trainers are, without proper funding, practitioners will find it difficult to access CPD. ‘We need ring-fenced funding specifically for CPD,’ proposes Ms Featherbe. ‘A funding system that encourages and allows providers to allocate three days per year to continued professional development, and a sector that has a raised profile and creates opportunities for its employees.’
