The Childhood Practice Award
Evidence shows that the best experiences for children come from the best qualified staff, including where the manager has a degree level award.
The development of Childhood Practice awards are designed to put Scotland at the forefront of the development of integrated qualifications for early years and child care practitioners. Longer term, all early years and child care managers will be required to gain the new awards of 360 credits at SCQF level 9, for registration with the SSSC.
The SSSC has produced a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding the new childhood practice awards. You can find out more about the Childhood Practice Awards here.
Watch a short film about the Childhood Practice qualification and hear from people who work in early years and with children and young people and the difference the qualification is making for them as workers and for the children and families they work with.
About the Childhood Practice awards
- How the awards were developed
- What the awards look like
- Who they effect
- The need to undertake the awards
Childhood Practice awards newsletter
You can view the Investing in Children's Future newsletters below:
- Investing in Children's Futures - Issue one
- Investing in Children's Futures - Issue two
- Investing in Children's Futures - Issue three
Guidance for learners and employers
- You can view the guidance here (updated March 2011).
This has information on credit transfer and recognition of prior learning (RPL), contact details of childhood practice course deliverers and answers some FAQs about childhood practice.
Guidance for Mentoring in Childhood Practice
A guidance document and toolkit for use by mentors supporting mentees is now available.
- Guidance for Mentoring in Childhood Practice
- Tool A: What makes a good mentor?
- Tool B: Self assessment planning tool
- Tool C: Mentoring framework template
- Tool D: Characteristics of successful mentees
- Tool E: Flowchart for recruiting and selecting mentors and mentees
- Tool F: Sample mentoring agreement form
- Tool G: A working model of the mentoring process
- Tool H: The relationship cycle
- Tool I: Action planning and goal setting
- Tool J: Action plan
- Tool K: Optimum conditions for effective adult learning
- Tool L: Issues to consider when planning
- Tool M: Meeting log template
- Tool N: Case study: mentor log, CCUO pilot 2010
- Tool O: Monitoring progress: what to check for
Rules and Requirements
You can download the guidelines for providers, their partners and learners enrolled on programmes.
- Download Delivering the Standard for Childhood Practice in PDF format
The SSSC has, through consultation, developed the Rules and Requirements for Awards Developed from the Standard for Childhood Practice. These Rules and Requirements set out the criteria for the approval of courses for persons who wish to become manager/lead practitioner in early years and child care service and the arrangements for the monitoring, review and investigation of such courses.
- Download the Foreword for Childhood Practice Rules in PDF format
- Download the full report on the Rules and requirements for awards developed from the standard for childhood practice 2008 in PDF format
Standards for Childhood Practice
- You can view the Standards for Childhood Practice here.
Training providers
- View a list of the Training Providers delivering the New Award
Graduate entry
The SSSC has publishedguidelines for programmes leading to the postgraduate qualification as practitioner and as manager/lead practitioner in Childhood Practice in Scotland.
If you have any queries regarding the childhood practice awards, please contact Nina Roberts, Education and Workforce Development Adviser at nina.roberts@sssc.uk.com
