A workforce model that just isn’t working!
Ever heard that phrase, “the perfect storm”? It’s described
by Cambridge Dictionary as an extremely bad situation in which
many bad things happen at the same time. A description that could be considered
to accurately convey the current workforce situation in Scotland’s Early
Learning and School Age Childcare Sectors.
How did we get here?
I’ve no desire to rack up a huge wordcount on this section, and I think the reasons are clear to all, but for completeness here’s a brief overview of the reasons my favourite sector is struggling with an overwhelming workforce capacity issue.
- Remuneration and recognition are often too low, and there’s a divide between what Local Authorities can afford to pay and what the third sector and private operators can afford.
- The challenges of working through the Covid-19 pandemic have put lots of people off entering the sector and made lots of people consider their career, and work/life balance, and opt out.
- Entrant numbers and retention rates at college and vocational courses fell as studies went on line and vocational trainers and assessors were excluded from workplaces to protect children and practitioners during lockdown restrictions.
- The delivery of Scottish Government’s, admirable 1140 funded hours, expansion plan has created a need for increased capacity in the workforce, at a time when actual numbers of available colleagues are dropping.
- Some Local Authorities have been seen to "scoop up" available practitioners leaving their partner providers in the third and private sector struggling to recruit from a very limited pool.
- There’s still a drive from some schools to push academic routes and not enough value placed on vocational routes.
- Self-isolation, sickness, and general weariness after the toughest of years is taking its toll and absence levels are rising.
What does this mean
Well of course it means its hard to recruit, it means
services are juggling to ensure they have the right people in place, are within
the right ratios, and can maintain the meaningful relationships and
understanding of individual children’s needs that are necessary to truly
provide a great, nurturing, learning environment.
It also means that in some cases providers aren’t able to
maintain the standards they are committed to delivering. It adds stress to an
already pressured job for service managers trying their best to have, not just
the right number of people, but the right mix of people with the appropriate
skills, knowledge and understanding needed to provide a great service.
It means fewer people aspire to work in the sector, the drive to boost workforce diversity is impeded and ultimately it means the children, families and communities using Scotland’s childcare settings aren’t always getting the top class service they deserve.
We’ve got a problem, so how do we fix it?
We need to create a culture where those working with our youngest, most vulnerable citizens are valued and respected, where there are clear career progression routes and the workforce represents the diversity of society. We need to improve workforce retention, create new jobs, increase earning power and offer flexible, family friendly, working opportunities. Here's some of the things I believe need to happen to resolve this workforce crisis:
- Entry points need to extend, the range of skills and qualifications needed should be expanded, and career paths need to allow for periods of time where working models vary to accommodate personal caring commitments, to offer opportunities to divert to associated sectors and to continually learn, implement and reflect.
- Funding for training to achieve qualifications must be reviewed. The 2021, Skills Development Scotland, funding rates for Modern Apprentices undertaking qualifications in Social Services (Children and Young People) vary dependent on the candidate’s age. A training provider working with a candidate aged 16 to 19 years will be paid £5,500 to take them to qualification, with up to 40% of this total paid on completion of qualification. For candidates aged 20 to 24 years that funding drops to £2,700, 50 % output based on certification, and for candidates aged 25+, those often furthest from recent study experience, just £1700, with 50% held to be paid on final completion. Given that this includes 4 mandatory and 4 optional units plus core skills including ICT, Numeracy Communication, Problem Solving and Working with Others, it’s a big ask for the funding offered and certainly doesn’t encourage training providers to offer more places for mature candidates despite this being a way to increase workforce diversity.
- 1140 hours funding rates for partner providers need to be reviewed, with fairer distribution of funding and annual inflationary increases to support rises in cost of labour and enable providers to invest in their people. There's a lack of consistency in the way our Local Authorities manage partner provider relationships and in the funding rates they set. Local government management of national government policy is always tricky to get right and its certainly not right yet in relation to funding for Early Learning and Childcare.
- We need to stop presenting careers working with children as cute and start showing them as life changing, influencing our future world; nurturing, educating, and inspiring our youngest citizens.
- We need to look at retention, to investigate and understand why people leave the sector and take rectifying action to plug the gap.
- We need a clearly defined, robust and effective workforce strategy, one that is developed in consultation with all provider types, and all stakeholders involved in the sector. One that creates parity of resource and funding and that drives up opportunities, quality of experience and outcomes. A strategy that truly helps Scotland to be the best place to grow up.
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