qualifications – Nannyjob blog

Suitable Qualifications for Nannies and Childcarers in the UK

Nannies and childcarers play a critical role in the lives of the children they care for, so it’s important for parents to ensure they have the necessary qualifications to provide a safe and nurturing environment. In the UK, there are several qualifications and training courses that are highly regarded in the childcare industry. This article will explore these qualifications and help you make an informed decision when hiring a nanny or childcarer for your family.

CACHE (Council for Awards in Care, Health, and Education) Diplomas CACHE is a leading provider of childcare qualifications in the UK. They offer various diplomas for nannies and childcarers, including Level 2 and Level 3 Diplomas in Childcare and Education. These courses cover essential topics such as child development, health and safety, and working in partnership with parents.
BTEC (Business and Technology Education Council) Diplomas BTEC offers a range of qualifications in Childcare, such as the Level 2 and Level 3 Diplomas in Children’s Care, Learning, and Development. These courses provide a comprehensive understanding of children’s physical, intellectual, emotional, and social development, as well as practical skills in planning and implementing activities.
NNEB (National Nursery Examination Board) Diploma Although no longer awarded, the NNEB Diploma was a highly respected qualification in childcare. Those who hold this diploma have undergone extensive training in child development, health, and safety, as well as practical experience in childcare settings.
Montessori Training Some nannies and childcarers may have completed Montessori training, which focuses on a child-centered approach to learning and development. This training emphasizes the importance of fostering independence, self-confidence, and a love for learning in children.
Paediatric First Aid A crucial qualification for any nanny or childcarer is a Paediatric First Aid certification, which covers essential life-saving skills, such as CPR, choking, and treating injuries. This certification should be updated every three years to ensure the childcarer’s knowledge and skills remain current.
Safeguarding Training Childcarers should have up-to-date safeguarding training to ensure they understand how to protect children from harm and are aware of their responsibilities in reporting any concerns. This training covers topics such as child abuse, neglect, and the appropriate actions to take in different situations.

When hiring a nanny or childcarer, it’s important to consider the qualifications they hold and the training they have completed. By choosing a professional with the right qualifications, you can be confident that your children are in safe and capable hands. Always request to see original certificates and verify their authenticity with the awarding body when considering a candidate for a childcare position.

Is a qualification necessary for a nanny?

Faced with choosing a nanny there are a few strategies that can be used to narrow down the field. Some parents insist on a nanny holding a childcare qualification of some kind, some expect a minimum level of childcare qualification, others place no importance on candidates having any kind of training in childcare. But is this a good idea?

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Choosing a childcare course

Do you want to improve your CV and get ahead in your career? Courses can be a fantastic way to do this or simply to explore new subjects but there’s a bewildering array out there. Here’s how to narrow it down.

What do you want the course to do?

If you’re hoping that it will lead to a new career you need to make sure that the course is recognised by potential employers. If you just want a bit more information then accreditation and recognition is less important but you still want to be confident that the course content is accurate. Deals through sites like Wowcher and Groupon may look great but they don’t lead to recognised qualifications and you may end up paying money, and putting time in, for nothing.

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Spotlight on qualifications

Although nannies do not have to be qualified, studying for a qualification shows commitment to a career in childcare and proves that a nanny has knowledge of good professional practice with a range of ages. There are many different qualifications that a nanny may have, and these are offered at different levels which correspond to the difficulty of the qualification, not the number of hours taken to achieve it. Here are the most common qualifications for nannies, including the new Early Years Educator courses which started this autumn. You can find more details on these and other qualifications on here.

Continue reading “Spotlight on qualifications”

New qualifications for childcarers

On 1 September 2014 the standard qualifications for new learners within the childcare profession changed from the Certificate and Diploma for the Children and Young People’s Workdforce to the Early Years Educator Qualifications. Previous diplomas, including the BTEC, NNEB and DCE as well as the DCYPW, remain full and relevant and therefore suitable for nannies.

The new qualifications focus on the 0-5 age range, with some knowledge of the 5-7 age group, and require a Grade C pass in GCSE English and Maths. For the academic year 2014/2015 this will be an end of course, rather than an entry, requirement but in following years learners will be expected to obtain these before enrolling on the course if they are accessing funding.

Early Years Educator qualifications can be taken at a college or in a workplace, but the workplace needs to be registered and following the EYFS, meaning that nannies would need to undertake practical placements to complete the course. It will take 12-24 months to complete. The qualification is the same standard as A-levels and can be used to apply for university to study courses such as childhood and early years, primary teaching or nursing.

The criteria for the new EYE qualifications set out by the Government can be found here.

More Great Childcare II

In our first blog post on the changes proposed by Liz Truss we focused on the changes to ratios. This second part is about the changes which relate to qualifications. To understand this one must first understand that Professor Cathy Nutbrown undertook a review, culminating last year in the report Foundations for Quality which made a number of recommendations. More Great Childcare is, amongst other things, the Governments response to that.

Early Years Educators

Liz Truss proposes a new standard ‘Early Years Educator’ badge for qualifications. As anyone who has looked into gaining a qualification over the last decade, or looked at employing someone, there is a huge array of qualifications, some of which are simply a rebranded NNEB and some of which are barely worth the paper they’re written on. These were all slimmed down the the Diploma for the Children and Young People’s Workforce, which was criticised by Nutbrown’s review for being, amongst other things, too broad. Clarity here would probably be welcomed by everyone.

Early years teachers

More Great Childcare proposes a new status and training course for Early Years Teachers, a postgraduate qualification that will focus on teaching in the early years and have the same entry requirements (including the skills tests) as school teachers, but crucially stops shorts of giving Early Years Teachers the same Qualified Teacher Status that their primary and secondary colleagues have. Given that there is already Early Years Professional Status, which can be taken by professionals working in registered settings, the proposed change doesn’t seem to go much further and is likely to be a source of discontent.

GCSE Maths and English

Nutbrown recommended that all entrants onto an early years qualification hold a level 2, with the reasoning that learners should be ‘confident and capable in their literacy and numeracy’. The Government has interpreted this as a grade C in Maths and English GCSE.

This has been of particular interest to many on our Facebook page. It used to be a requirement of many colleges before entry, and some people seemed unaware that this policy had changed. Others appreciated the need for English to develop children’s communication skills but questioned the need for maths. Still others placed a higher value on aptitude for working with children.

Nannies in particular, who are not obliged to hold any qualifications, are uniquely affected by this recommendation. Parents can order their own priorities when hiring a nanny, but particularly for those with school aged children GCSEs and further educational qualifications are increasingly important. A quick random poll revealed that parents felt academic qualifications combined with a natural affinity for children actually outweighed the need for formal childcare training. What would Nutbrown or Liz Truss say to that?

So how does this link back to ratios?

Professor Nutbrown herself suggested that the Government explore whether qualified teachers could work with more three and four year olds. The Government re-examined ratios in a larger sense and suggested increased ratios possibly based upon:

– Setting based criteria e.g. 70% of staff qualified to level 3; 100% of staff qualified to level 3; 100% of staff to have a C in Maths and English; at least one graduate plus 70% of staff qualified to level 3

– Practitioner based criteria e.g. only staff with a C in English and Maths to operate the higher ratio

There is some sense in the second requirement, although we don’t recall our GCSE (or O-level) certificates giving us extra eyes or arms, in that the paperwork is going to increase by 50% and strong literacy and numeracy skills will be essential to cope with that in a timely manner.

What does this mean for people already working in early years?

If you already have a qualification rest assured, that will be assessed against the criteria in place when they were awarded. If you are working, or wish to work, in a nursery and you don’t meet the literacy and numeracy requirements you may find your prospects limited. If you don’t have a qualification you may find that you need to brush up on your maths or English first.