Childhood Practice announcement
Monday, 22 March 2010 14:11
The Scottish Social Services Council today welcomed the Scottish Government's announcement that all managers in day care services for children will be required to hold a degree-level qualification from 1 December 2011. We want our children to achieve the best possible outcomes and it is essential that the people looking after them in nurseries, playgroups, out of school care etc have the highest level of skills and knowledge. The Government's decision to include all managers sends out a clear message that everyone who cares for children has an important part to play, and that Scotland's education providers have risen to the challenge of ensuring that the Childhood Practice Award is available across the country.
Chief Executive, Anna Fowlie, said today "At the SSSC, we are delighted that the Childhood Practice Award is being recognised in this way and we look forward to supporting the implementation of this requirement over the coming years. It will be good for people working with children as well as for children themselves, as it recognises the tremendous skills those people have and gives them a quality mark of professionalism."
You can download the letter sent out today by Scottish Government:
Scottish Government letter about Childhood Practice Award and SSSC registration requirements (
More information is available inthe questions answered by the Scottish Government below. You can also read our questions and answers about the Childhood Practice Awards or visit the Childhood Practice Awards page on our website to learn more about the qualification.
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Your questions answered by Scottish Government
Why can't the level 9 date be the same as the date for required registration?
Scottish Government always said we would introduce the Level 9 requirement in 2011. Bringing this forward to the 2010 required registration date would significantly reduce the time that we were giving many people to get the qualification. We recognise the current financial climate and the fact that you have to workforce plan with dwindling resources. We want to give you as much time as possible, whilst still achieving our policy objective of getting every manager qualified to Level 9.
You have always said you would split out of school care, why the change?
Over the years we have become increasingly aware of the danger of creating a two tier structure - within the one workforce. It is important to out of school care managers that they have the same status, and are treated equally, with early years.
We have been overwhelmed by the response from universities (and soon colleges) who are putting in a lot of commitment to Childhood Practice. We have more places than we could have hoped for in 2006.
We have better statistics than ever before about the numbers of managers who need the qualification and this has reassured us that there is no longer a need to split off out of school care.
Our out of school care managers will never be able to achieve the required level within 3 years
Each case will be different. Managers registering this year will, in effect, have 8 years to obtain the qualification.
Managers already registered should be prioritised first to give them as much time as possible.
The SVQ 4 in play work has been credit rated very well against the Level 9 - so people who hold this are not at any disadvantage compared with early years workers.
