Early Years Assistant Criteria Level 2- Consultation
- To what extent do you agree or disagree that the criteria set appropriate expectations for the skills and knowledge an early years assistant must demonstrate to be fully qualified at level 2?
(Required)
Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Not sure
Please explain your answer.
On the whole, we agree that the criteria set appropriate expectations for the skills and knowledge that an early years assistant must demonstrate to be fully qualified. It is pleasing to see that speech, language and communication features prominently within the proposed criteria, being given its own section within the nine key areas where candidates are required to demonstrate their skills, knowledge and understanding. In addition to this, it also features prominently within Section 1, ‘Knowledge of Child Development’, with 1.1 requiring candidates to have knowledge of the expected pattern of speech, language and communication and 1.3 requiring them to have a holistic understanding of speech, language and communication.
The importance of this focus on speech, language and communication cannot be understated; from birth to school is a crucial period for children to develop strong and effective speech, language and communication skills, essential to support learning, attainment and good social and emotional development. At two years old, children’s understanding and use of vocabulary as well as their use of two to three word sentences predicts their performance when they begin primary school.[1] The criteria set out clearly the importance of speech, language and communication skills as central to a child’s overall development.
It is also good to see that within the ‘Communication’ section, point 5.3 requires candidates to ‘encourage babies and young children to use a range of communication methods’, and point 5.4 builds on this by requiring them to demonstrate ‘a range of communication methods to exchange information with adults in line with agreed practice’. The Communication Trust represents a range of children, such as those who use Makaton, British Sign Language, Augmentative and Alternative Communication and those who are selectively mute. By asking candidates to focus on a range of communication methods, this ensures that those who do not use more traditional methods of communication are not excluded. This requirement also promotes the importance of pre verbal communication for babies and young children, valuing this stage as an essential part of children’s speech, language and communication development.
In addition to this, we are pleased that the ‘Own role and development’ section puts a strong emphasis on continued professional development (CPD), with 8.7 requiring that candidates ‘engage in continuing professional development and reflective practice to improve [their] skills, practice, and subject knowledge(for example, in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, English or mathematics)’ and 8.6 stating that they must ‘explain the importance of reflective practice and continued professional development to improve own skills and early years practice.’
Although it is great to see this enshrined within the criteria, it is important that at the same time, work is done within settings to ensure early years assistants are able to access CPD. In the Communication Trust’s 2017 Workforce Development report, just under a third of early years staff surveyed stated that they had received little or no CPD in typical speech, language and communication development, with the primary barriers preventing them from accessing this being budget, lack of relevant opportunities and lack of staff capacity.
Furthermore, we are pleased to see that the importance of parental engagement and the home learning environment has been emphasized within Section 9, ‘Working with others – parents, colleagues, other professionals’, within 9.2 requiring candidates to explain the importance of parental/carer engagement in early learning, 9.4 adding a requirement to ‘work alongside parents and/or carers and recognise their role in the baby’s/child’s health, well-being, learning and development’ and 9.5 ensuring candidates ‘encourage parents and/or carers to take an active role in the baby’s/child’s care, play, learning and development’.
Parental engagement and the home learning environment are both incredibly important factors in a child’s development; research shows that activities that improve a child’s home communication environment, such as the early ownership of books, trips to the library, parents teaching a range of activities and the number of toys and books available, are all important predictors of expressive language development at two, and of school entry ‘baseline’ scores at four.[2] It is therefore pleasing to see that the importance of this has been adequately reflected within the criteria.
- Is there anything missing from the criteria which you feel is vital for an early years assistant (level 2) to demonstrate?
(Required)
Yes
No
Not sure
Please explain your answer.
At present, Section 4, which focuses on’ Health and Wellbeing’, is focused entirely on the physical health of the child. We would argue that this section should be expanded to include social and emotional development, and to recognise the importance of speech, language and communication as a child wellbeing indicator. We would recommend adding a new requirement to ‘identify the signs which may indicate a child needs support with social and emotional development’ and adding an additional bullet point to 4.4 to encourage babies and young children to ‘develop their language skills in interactive and play situations’. In addition to this, 4.5 should be amended to read ‘Demonstrate how to share information with parents/carers about the importance of healthy balanced diets, being physically active, and speech, language and communication.’
Although we very much welcome the inclusion of Section 5, ‘Communication’, this could be strengthened further by including the following additional aspects of language and interaction as requirements:
- ‘Demonstrate how to modify your communication style to meet the needs of children and use praise and positive feedback to encourage the child’s communication’
- ‘Be able to use appropriate language models when interacting with babies and young children’
- ‘Demonstrate appropriate strategies to engage a baby or young child’s attention and help them to take turns with them in two way interaction’
- ‘Explain to parents and carers how they can support their child’s language and communication’
Furthermore, we would recommend that Section 6, ‘Support the planning of and deliver activities, purposeful play opportunities and educational programmes’, is amended to reflect the fact that speech, language and communication skills are fundamental to both play and education. 6.5 should be edited to read ‘Implement activities to support children’s play, creativity, social and emotional development, communication, learning and clear-up activities’. In addition to this, 6.10 should be strengthened to read ‘Support children’s early interest and development in reading, mark making and writing, and understand the link with early language development.’
It is fantastic to see a real emphasis on supporting those who have already been identified as having special educational needs and disabilities within Section 7, with Section 7.1 stipulating that candidates must be able to describe ‘statutory guidance in relation to caring for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities’, 7.5 stating that candidates must ensure that everything they do ‘is suitable for all the babies and young children you work with, according to their age, needs and abilities’, and 7.6 requiring knowledge of the ‘specialist aids and equipment that are available for the children you work with and how to use these safely’.
It is disappointing however to note that there is not an explicit mention about the identification of special educational needs within this section. The language of identification is used in point 4.1 within the Health and Wellbeing section, however, this is concerned exclusively with situations where a child is ‘injured, unwell or in need of urgent medical attention.’ With SLCN in particular, under-identification of young children is a huge issue; 7.6 % of children starting in mainstream reception classrooms (two children in every class of 30) have difficulties with speech, language and communication that impact on their ability to learn.[3]However, only 2.6% of children are identified by the SEND system as having SLCN as a primary need.[4] When speech and language difficulties are not picked up on, it means that effective, early support cannot be implemented and these children’s difficulties can become compounded as they enter more formal schooling.
Although arguably identification of any special educational needs could occur within the requirements for candidates to ‘support the development of plans and reviews, for each baby’s and young child's individual requirements’ in 7.3 and to ‘follow the baby’s and young child's individual plan as a basis for their care and participation’ in 7.4, these points are not sufficient by themselves, and an explicit, distinct point regarding identification of special educational needs is required.
We would also recommend that the criteria in section 7 is clearer about the practitoner’s roles and responsibilities with regard to the identification of and support for children with SEND. 7.1 expects that practitioners will be able to ‘describe statutory guidance’, but we would suggest that this criteria go beyond this and ask practitioners to identify their own role and responsibilities for identifying and supporting children with SEND. It’s essential that everybody working with children and young people see this as part of their role.
In addition, we would welcome the inclusion of the importance of working with parents as part of this section. As we’ve highlighted in our reply to question 1, we are very pleased to see involvement of parents as a specific criteria within the qualification. However, the involvement of parents should also be noted as part of section 7. This is a key responsibility in the identification of and support for children with SEND, and it is an early years practitioner’s statutory responsibility to include parents in the identification and assessment process.
- Within the criteria, is there any duplication or anything that could be removed?
(Required)
Yes
No
Not sure
- Are any of the criteria unclear?
(Required)
Yes
No
Not sure
- Would the requirements of the criteria disadvantage any particular group or groups?
(Required)
Yes
No
Not sure
- If you have any further comments relevant to the level 2 criteria please use the space below to provide them.
[1]Roulstone et al (2011) Investigating the role of language in children’s early educational outcomes
[2]Roulstone et al (2011) Investigating the role of language in children’s early educational outcomes
[3] Norbury, C. F., Gooch, D., Wray, C., Baird, G., Charman, T., Simonoff, E., Vamvakas, G. and Pickles, A. (2016), The impact of nonverbal ability on prevalence and clinical presentation of language disorder: evidence from a population study. J Child PsycholPsychiatr, 57: 1247–1257. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12573
[4]Special Education Needs in England: January 2016