As we announced last week, our discussions with Ofsted highlighting the impact of Early Years Foundation Scheme (EYFS) requirements on playwork has led to new guidance which should allay the concerns of playworkers.

We are delighted that numerous meetings with Ofsted to represent the employer voice on this issue have finally paid off. It highlights the importance of the role that we have, as the sector skills council and employer voice for playwork, in challenging external regulations that impact our sector.

We listened to the playwork sector to understand concerns about the requirements of the EYFS, gathered evidence and took this to Ofsted, ultimately resulting in this new guidance which should mean that playworkers don’t have to change their existing practice to meet the requirements of the EYFS.

It is encouraging to see that Ofsted has recognised that play based provision is compatible with the EYFS and we hope that this this factsheet will make Ofsted inspections clearer for the play sector.

With the government due to review the EYFS in September 2010, we will continue to listen to our members and will work closely with the DCSF to ensure playwork employer views are once again represented.

The Ofsted factsheet is available to download while we have also produced a guidance paper on the Early Years Foundation Stage and its impact on holiday playschemes, a topic recently mentioned by Elaine Clowes in a previous blog post.

In a previous post I wrote about concerns I had regarding the impact of the changes brought about by the introduction of the Childcare Act 2006, and specifically about the impact that the changes in qualification requirements would have on holiday playschemes. We have been carrying out an online survey to find out the effect on employers and children, and the results do not paint a happy picture!

The Childcare Act requires that 50% of staff working under a level 3 qualified manager/supervisor must have a relevant level 2 qualification, and essentially there is not enough qualified staff to go around. 37 of the 49 settings who responded to our survey said they had had to reconsider their plans for holiday play schemes. 6 settings had decided to exclude under 6’s, and a further 13 were considering it. While it is always dangerous to extrapolate, if this percentage is accurate across England, then 12% of holiday playschemes will have excluded under 6’s, and 26% have considered it, and may in fact have done so since filling in the survey – which started at the end of May!

Other ‘solutions’ that settings have put in place include offering activity based provision so that they are exempt from the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Responses indicate that 2 employers have done this and a further 6 were considering it; others are using qualified staff to work with younger children and unqualified staff to work with older ones. I do not feel this adds up to offering quality playwork, but I suspect also that a huge number of dedicated playworkers have been putting in a lot of unpaid hours and working below minimum wage in order to run summer schemes. This is not a recipe for a sustainable, professional sector.

The number of children affected is equally disturbing. It is estimated that 7500 children would be affected as a result of changed plans and a further 4300 if settings considering different options took these forward.

At SkillsActive we are working DCSF officials for acceptance of the new level 2 Award in Playwork.  This qualification takes a similar amount of time to complete as training based on the induction standard. This will be practical for University students who make up the bulk of the summer playscheme workforce and an accessible solution for employers needing to recruit and qualify temporary staff for holiday provision.

Playwork sector employers will be aware of the changes in policy regarding the registration of childcare for children under the age of eight that took place in September 2008.

Childcare is no longer registered under the Children Act 1989; it now falls under the Childcare Act 2006. The changes separate the regulation of under and over sixes to reflect the different needs of school aged and pre-school children. These changes have caused some confusion for employers, particularly in relation to the qualifications that are accepted by Ofsted, and therefore recognised on the Early Years Register – recognised within the Childcare Act.

The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) was charged by government to develop a set of criteria against which qualifications are assessed. This assessment determines whether qualifications are deemed ‘full and relevant’, and only then will they gain entry onto the Early Years Register.

The majority of playwork qualifications have passed the assessment and are recognised on the Early Years Register; and SkillsActive is now working to ensure that the new Diplomas in Playwork at level 2 and 3 meet this assessment before they are launched next year.

The Childcare Register – another core Register within the Childcare Act, requires all level 2 and 3 qualifications held by staff to be on the current National Qualifications Framework (NQF) However as the new Qualifications and Credit Framework takes shapes and supersedes the NQF over the next few months, SkillsActive is working to ensure all new Awards, Certificates and Diplomas at level 2 and 3 that are developed match any new regulations; and working with training providers and employers to ensure existing qualifications are up-to-date and relevant to ensuring recognition on the new Framework.

Currently there is no provision for a transitional arrangement covering holiday playschemes this year, following Ofsted’s refusal to recognise the Playwork Induction Standard, so employers who are unable to recruit qualified staff will need to consider how they might become exempt from registering on the Early Years Register in the interim.  Reluctantly, we would advise employers to consider taking only children of eight years or over or operating playschemes for less than two hours a day or for less than 14 days in the year until a replacement for the induction standard has been approved.

We are gathering information on the impact of the new registers on recruitment to holiday playschemes, and have devised a brief questionnaire for employers so they can share their views with us. If you are an employer, help us make the case for the playwork award at level 2 to be accepted for holiday playschemes on the Childcare Register, by visiting: www.skillsactive.com/survey/holidayplayschemes

The DCSF has no plans to establish a database listing appropriate qualifications for staff working in settings on the Childcare Register, but has confirmed that it is SkillsActive’s role to determine which qualifications were appropriate for staff in play settings. To this end DCSF has agreed that we will publish a list of qualifications on our website that playwork employers can consult when appointing staff to play provision and we are developing this at the moment.