The A to Z of Early Years. June O'Sullivan
‘hoovering up’ and commercialisation of nurseries driven purely by profit; the abysmal pay and conditions for hard-pressed staff with limited opportunities for serious academic training; and the lack of a coherent vision for the future are just some of the crucial issues affecting the sector. The impact of policies set up to protect adults are having appalling effects on the lives of babies, children and young people, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable in society and likely to affect a whole generation of children.
I've travelled widely meeting countless children, staff, parents, grandparents and professionals in early years settings. I've seen wonderful staff who really care about opening the precious little minds and giving them the springboard for resilience and success in life. Nothing in my view can be more rewarding than working with the smallest and youngest babies and children and this is shared by so many of the people I have met.
And so, the future lies in your hands! Build on the examples in this book! Think critically about the topics and issues raised. Engage with the ‘calls to action'. Take your ideas into your practice! Children are our most precious resource – they are our future, especially in the face of dramatic increases in longevity with more old people living for longer. Every baby, child and young person who can needs to have every support to become the productive adults and effective parents of tomorrow, and those who can't through disadvantage and disability should still being able to achieve their own full potential. What, then are you going to do to give our youngest children and their families the outcomes they need and deserve? I challenge each and every reader to identify five actions – no matter how small – they will take tomorrow to make a difference. Can we really afford to betray our babies again and yet again?
Sir Al Aynsley-Green (Visiting Professor of Advocacy for Children and Childhood at Nottingham Trent University and Professor Emeritus of Child Health, University College London; First Children's Commissioner for England 2005–9)
Introduction
This book emerged from my blogs, the place where I share, pontificate, complain and explore the wide range of subjects that are all filtered through the early years funnel. I was asked to write about the key early year issues in a frank and accessible way, but without detracting from a perspicacious unpicking of the implications of the policy decisions on practice, behaviour and the competence and confidence of those delivering the education and care. I hope that those very people who deliver our early childhood services, and often feel fearful of engaging with the policy debates, will read it. Children are the litmus test of society and their experiences light a lot of touch papers. This book reflects this and covers a wide range of subjects from babies to venture capitalists, creativity to reading. Set out in an alphabetic style, readers can explore each topic and use the links to twitter and other reading material at the end of each chapter to broaden their interest. The book provokes questions and could be a useful practical guide for leaders and managers to initiate professional and pedagogical dialogues and debates with staff, students and colleagues. It's a bridge straight into policy, an area that is often considered obscure and perplexing.
A is for Apprentice
I love apprentices! I have loved them from the time they ceased to be ‘trainees’ and reclaimed their original title of apprentices. It disappoints me that many people think that becoming an apprentice is a second-rate career choice. In fact, apprenticeships are one of the best ways to ensure our young people are ready to lead the future of industry.
Having good apprentices has given me and many others reason to celebrate, because they bring joy and enthusiasm to an organisation. Some of our best staff have been those who learned on the job. They have accepted and enriched our culture, demonstrating loyalty and championing what we represent, yet have been willing to challenge when they cannot see an alignment between what we say and what we do. I often check what is happening deep in the organisation by having a few chats with apprentices. They won't tell you what you want to hear! Many of our senior staff have come through the apprentice route, and we have just promoted someone who started as an apprentice sixteen years ago to the role of Apprentice Manager.
There is nothing new about apprentices, they started back in the Middle Ages closely related to the mediaeval craft guilds. The first law which set out apprentices’ training and welfare terms and conditions, including accommodation, was the Statute of Artificers in 1563. Back then the master could have a maximum of three male apprentices, serving for two to seven years. Once an apprenticeship was completed, the apprentice went on to become a journeyman, paid by the day, before submitting his masterpiece to the appropriate guild for assessment and approval in order to become a master craftsman and set up his own workshop and train apprentices.
Towards the end of the nineteeth century, approximately 340,000 apprentices were apprenticed to engineering, construction, shipbuilding and woodworking occupations. Participation in apprenticeships reached its zenith in the years following 1945 and reflected a strong relationship between the community, employers and the apprentice. By the mid-1960s around 33% of male school leavers aged 15–17 entered some form of apprenticeship programme. However, after the 1960s, as various industries declined, there was a corresponding drop in numbers from 171,000 apprentices in 1968 to 34,500 in 1990.
Since the early 1990s successive governments have introduced many reforms with a multitude of titles and operating rationales to increase apprentices. Do you remember the introduction of NVQs in 1986 or the Modern Apprenticeships scheme in 1994?
Skip forward to today and we have yet more changes. The most significant one is how apprentices are funded. In 2017 the employer levy was introduced. Employers with a pay bill of over three million pounds a year must put 0.5% of it into a levy pot each month, which is to be used to fund apprenticeships for their business. If an employer doesn't pay a levy, they pay 5% towards the cost of training and assessing the apprentice and the government will pay the rest (95%) up to the funding band maximum. However, that levy is not always being used to fund apprentices. There are concerns that big companies with large payrolls are using it to fund higher and degree-level courses for their staff, rather than entry-level training and apprenticeships.
When a company has spent its levy, it's possible to partner with another organisation with an underspent levy pot. Small companies with big payrolls such as childcare and social care are a good example of businesses which train a lot of apprentices, particularly as they face recruitment and retention challenges on an epic scale. Their levy is soon spent, yet they could train more than they can afford. Accessing some underspent levy would help, although the way it can be used is very restricted. It can't be spent to buy teaching resources, functional skills classes or preparation for work programmes. But actually, finding underspent levy takes the investigative powers of Hercule Poirot, a dose of good luck and an introduction! A central source, listing those with available levy funds, would be a very helpful move.
According to the Ofsted Annual Report (2019a), there is a shift away from apprenticeships at levels 2 and 3 (GCSE/A-level equivalents) towards levels 4 to 7 (degree equivalents) although fewer people do the higher apprentice programmes. The world of apprentices may also be further destabilised with the introduction of the new two-year technical study programme known as T-levels. This classroom-based training was designed by employers to give young people the skills their industry needs and includes a 45-day industry placement. T-levels will become one of three major options for post-16 students to study at Level 3. The other two are apprenticeships, for those who wish to study and train ‘on the job’ for a specific occupation, or A-levels. T-level students will have the option to progress on to university degree courses, but there are reservations from universities, who have the power to accept or reject the qualifications.
As a provider of apprenticeships, I am concerned that the T-levels will detract from occupational apprentices and knock them even further down the hierarchy. There is a bias towards university among parents, press and schools. Apprenticeships are often seen as a less credible career option because university is considered the key to a successful and prosperous future. They believe in the promise of what is often called the ‘graduate premium', a reference to the gap of at least £10,000 between the salary of a graduate and an apprentice. However, there is evidence from the Million Jobs campaign that for over a third of