IPPA Submission to the Workforce Development Plan

IPPA Submission to the Workforce Development Plan.

Introduction

The context of IPPA’s response

Consultation with IPPA members

Comment on The Background Information Documents

Comment on The Model Framework

Changing Policy & Practice Environments

Education & Training

Status Pay Conditions and Funding

Professional Development

Training and Training Providers

Sectoral standards for awards in ECCE

Access and effective participation in education and training

Retention

Conclusion and Priorities

References

IPPA Submission to the Workforce Development Plan.

Introduction

IPPA welcomes the commitment of government to a national workforce development plan for the early childhood care and education (ECCE) sector.

The consultation process underway recognises that those of us working on the ground with service providers and practitioners as well as children and families have valuable knowledge and perspectives to contribute.

The context of IPPA’s response

IPPA’s submission to the development of the workforce plan is based on 40 years experience of working in the sector and on our consultations with a range of stakeholders, including other agencies, practitioners and parents. Although not reflected in the background paper, IPPA’s contribution in the area of training and education in the sector is well recognised for both its quality and its innovative approach.

• For a long time, we were the main providers of childcare training in Ireland.Engaging in the training of service providers, even at a very basic, non-accredited level, we developed a hunger for further training in the sector that is reflected in the uptake of accredited training programmes over the last 10 years. Our close contact with childcare practitioners around the country located us well to understand the skills and knowledge required in practice and to develop and deliver programmes that are accessible, meaningful and manageable for the cohort of workers employed in the sector.
• In response to requests from Sylda Langford and her team in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform at the time, we provided accredited training programmes nationally.
• Trained a network of trainers who worked for IPPA and also became a valuable resource to the training agencies in their local areas.IPPA trainers frequently work with VECs, Community Colleges and Community Groups within their respective localities.
• Played a significant role in developing a range of modules for FETAC Level 5 and Level 6 that have stood the test of time.
• At the same timewe played animportant role in developing the National Childcare Strategyand the Model Framework for Education, Training and Professional Development in Early Childhood Care and Education (2002).

This IPPA response considers the data and information in the Background Paper and contributes to the interpretation of this data based on experience in practice. Collating and analysing feedback from member consultations,key recommendations are proposed in devising a plan for the future development of a very distinctive workforce.

Consultation with IPPA members

IPPA staff have been consulting with members in the course of their work and feeding back the issues arising for inclusion in this submission. Members have also been diligent in responding individually on-line to the plan. IPPA has also held focus group meetings with members in Dublin, Cork and Galway.

It needs to be highlighted here that the meetings were all characterised by strong feelings among participants about the ECCE scheme and the new demands for qualifications being placed on funding recipients. ECCE providers are being inundated with changes and demands that are causing enormous concern and stress. There is anger that these changes and demands are happening without consultation and without putting in place the resources, funding and accessible training courses for them to achieve it. To quote members:

‘I am a 50 year old woman who has worked in preschool for 20 years. I spent 2 years doing a Level 5 on a part time basis. I earn €150 per week before deductions. I have a family at home and 2 children at college. How am I to find the time to do further training and where will I find the money to do it. Who will pay me for being better qualified? It just doesn’t make sense’.

‘If I were to do Level 5, 6 and 7, it would take me 10 years and cost me €20,000. Is that reasonable? Where can I find that time and money?

Essentially, change and new demands have induced an unprecedented level of stress and insecurity in the sector and makes it difficult to take a long term view of staff development and training. While members welcome the concept of a minimum level of training for acceptance into the ECCE scheme, there are confused as to what levels are required and what the time frame for acquiring the qualification is. Many members feel that this workforce development plan should have been implemented before the new demands were made. They also feel that the training they have already undertaken has been undervalued and that the goalposts are constantly been changed without any consideration for the time, energy and cost involved.

Consulting with practitioners who deliver services is a grounding experience – often a stark reminder that plans devised on paper do not always marry with the realities of people’s lives.

Comment on The Background Information Documents

The background discussion paper is extremely helpful. From the beginning it warns against a narrow interpretation of the term childcare. It profiles childcare services as a support to the role of parents, carers and communities and conceptualises the childcare professional’s role as a complex mix of education, care, family support, health care, counselling, community development and advocacy as well as such ancillary skills such as service development, business and funding management and human resource management. It establishes the integrated nature of early childhood education and care and thereby locates the child firmly within family and community.

It would be helpful if the background paper also documented the changes in Irish communities – the cultural characteristics, family profile, economic status, employment profile, ethnic profile, languages etc. of Irish communities. ECCE services are at the interface of these changing family and community structures with major implication for the role of services in providing family supports, prevention and intervention programmes, in social inclusion, and in advocacy as well as education.

It also has implications for qualifications of the workforce and the role of the early childhood services.

Recommendation

• The role of the early childhood professional must be conceptualised as multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary. It is not confined to a centre but has a broader remit to engage with the child-in-family-in community. This means that there are many education and training routes to working in the sector, including education, psychology, social care as well as the eclectic early childhood qualifications. Conceptualising the profession in this way creates important and appropriate professional roles for highly qualified and experienced practitioners.

Comment on The Model Framework

The background paper refers to the Model Framework which was developed in 2002. Since 2002, the sector has grown and developed and our understanding of early childhood learning and development has changed. This is clearly reflected in Aistear, with its sociocultural basis. The following issue emerges in reviewing the Model.

• New roles and skills have been identified as critical to the sector since the Model was devised. Outreach roles in family support, community development, activism and advocacy as well as in-service roles in curriculum leadership and mentoring are now considered key roles with specific skill requirements.

Recommendation

• The Model Framework to recognise and incorporate the broad remit of ECCE services and essential skills needed. This will have an impact on the emphasis in training and education courses.

Changing Policy & Practice Environments

What kind ofinfrastructure of early childhood care and education (ECCE) services do we want for children and families in Ireland? What should these services be trying to achieve?How do these services link to other family support services? These are some of the questions we need to address in order to plan the development of a workforce.

The starting point in developing the workforce must be to have a clear and articulated vision for the childcare sector and consequently for the workforce.

Qualifications are not enshrined in law but are now stitched in with the new ECCE scheme, which is a universal right of each child. The more targeted CCSS scheme focuses on children/families from disadvantaged situations and within this scheme no qualification requirements are specified. Two issues arise, firstly the need for consistency and uniformity in policy requirements as they relate to qualifications in the ECCE sector. Secondly, there is need to ensure that the quality of community services is not undermined by a policy which endorses unqualified staff. The community sector already works with Community Employment staff and deals with vulnerable families.

As outlined above, the workforce can be understood narrowly as those who work directly with the children (centre based, home based or school based) or more broadly as those who enable the delivery of quality services. The broader view will include Learner Mentors and Coaches, Quality Officers, Siolta Co-Ordinators, Trainers and others. Acknowledging the complexity and diversity of roles within the workforce shifts the concept of the ‘lone individual childcare practitioner’ to one of ‘an interdependent range of professionals’.

A radical model for Ireland but one that has long existed in Europe is that of the

‘Social Pedagogue’. The Social Pedagogue is a professional who is qualified to work in settings that cross education, social services, youth work, family support and health with people of all ages. This model would promote ‘a single qualification that would provide a common set of skills and knowledge’ (Children in Scotland, 2008) and to which specialist modules would be added as part of the final award. In this model Social pedagogues work along side other professionals such as teachers and social workers. The Social Pedagogue model would allow for workforce mobility (ECCE sector, to residential care, to youth work or to elder care) and would provide for shifting societal and demographic requirements,eg, as the population ages workforce requirement may shift from ECCE to elder care.

The language of the sector, the Consultation document and the WDP requires alignment and common understandings. The issue of language, of naming and framing the sector continues and gives rise to misunderstanding and misinterpretations, pre-service and in-service, training and professional development, practitioners, workers and assistants. Common language and understandings facilitate dialogue and promote a community of practice or profession.

Recommendation

• The Workforce Development Plan (WPD) must be located in a policy context. Some clarification as to what kind of ECCE system we are aiming for (vision) and how the government sees the development of ECCE services in Ireland over the next 10 years is needed to frame the possibilities of a WPD.

• Policy initiatives, directly related to the ECCE workforce, should be consistent in the qualifications required.

• The Social Pedagogue model should be considered as a support in meeting the multi-functional requirements of local communities.

• Consistency of language, terminology and understandings be applied across the WPD.

Education & Training

Accredited childcare training has gradually become available to practitioners around the country over the past decade. Training has focused heavily on the delivery of NCVA/FAS/FETAC Level 5 programmes, which were initially aimed at the PLC sector and were full time. The Level 6 programme ‘Supervision in Childcare’ was developed for the sector by IPPA at FETAC’s request in 2001. Level 6 programmes are not easily accessible across the country, with VECs, colleges and other training providers requiring a strong ECCE team to effectively roll out the full programme. Higher qualifications in childcare at Levels 7 and 8 are not easily accessible, with many practitioners across the country not able to access nationally recognised training beyond the entry point of FETAC Level 5.The introduction of the ECCE scheme, linking qualifications to capitation, has increased demandfor higher qualifications, which cannot be met.

Increasing demand for training

The ‘Workforce Development plan’ aims to increase the capacity and professionalism of workers within the sector. The aim must be linked to sustainability, regulations and working conditions within the sector. At present, for example:

• The Preschool Regulations do not mandate any training
• The level required for participation in the ECCE scheme is a basic FETAC level 5 by 2012, and only for room leaders
• Remuneration levels in the sector are low. ECCE staff members are paid just above the minimum wage – for contact hours only
• Individuals are responsible for their own training costs
• The sector is suffering the consequences of recession. Decrease in demand for Childcare – decrease in numbers employed and in demand for training
• The level of qualification established in the sector is level 5 certificate which equates to Leaving Cert standard – still a relatively low standard of training
• Many services, particularly those serving disadvantaged communities, are dependant on CE workers. While many undertake accredited training courses during the programme, they complete their training just as their programme terminates.

The workforce has built incrementally, with practitioners frequently accessing training in their own time at their own cost. In recognition of the historical and organic growth of training in the sector it is recommended that the WDP would provide a stepped, resourced, lead in time for any changes proposed as a result of the plan.Many practitioners accessed training pre the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999. Consequently, and becoming evident on foot of the ECCE scheme, are the array of qualifications which are not placed on the NFQ. In an interim phase leading towards the development of a workforce plan there must be a willingness to build on all existing training and provide incentives and supports for advancement.

The ECCE workforce consists of new entrants and existing practitioners (all with varying levels of qualifications and experience). In addition to the provision of Level 6, 7 and 8 programmes, the sector requires a Post Graduate qualification (Level 9) in ECCE, which would allow those with existing 3rd level qualifications (in other disciplines)complete a higher, sector specific qualification.

Recognition should be afforded to each level of training with the WDP. Statistics from OMCYA indicate that 11% of practitioners have Level 6 and 9% have Level7 or higher. FETAC Level 6 equips the Supervisor of the service to work with families, supervise staff, develop and implement curricula and understand the context (social and legal) of operation. The Level 6 programme should be recognised as a valued achievement along the continuum of qualifications.

The structure of the workforce is underdeveloped. Typically qualifications distance practitioners from direct work with the children – the higher the qualifications gained the more likely that practitioners will move into management, training or other related posts. Through this process the sector is enriched but opportunities are lost to build the workforce at the coalface.New policy developments and legislation mean that practitioners have increased administration workloads to satisfy. This is problematic as (a) practitioners have core skills in working with children and families but not necessarily in finance and administration and (b) Additional administration removes the practitioner from direct contact with children/families.

The landscape, language and structures of childcare are difficult to navigate. What are progression paths, what constitutes an award, what is a major or minor award, who can deliver training and how can the practitioner/learner have confidence in the system? Consistent, clear information providing guidance and an overview of childcare training are required by practitioners to support them in making training choices.

Models of training

The traditional model of training is a classroom based, lecture/didactic approach, which no longer meets the needs of the sector, or of the practitioners. While other models operate (Traineeship, distance and on-line learning) new more flexible approaches must be developed and available to practitioners.

There is a need to be innovative in addressing the training needs of this workforce. Practitioners/members want courses that are work-based. They commend courses such as the IPPA Quality Improvement Programme, the High/Sscope Programme and the Incredible Years – programmes that build their skills and relate consistently to practice. Particularly for those who have struggled with the education system, research supports the effectiveness of workplace training and mentoring.