Early Learning Partnership Project Strand 3 – Workforce Development

 

The third strand of the Early Learning Partnership Project is designed to build sustainability into the Early Learning Partnership Project by providing specialist training – on a large scale – to equip the early years workforce with skills to engage effectively with parents and support them to get involved in their child's early learning.

Image: Images/ELPP/FWANorfolkPaintingWithMum2.JPGThe core element of the project will be large-scale roll-out of Parents, Early Years and Learning (PEAL), the DfES-funded training developed by a consortium consisting of National Children's Bureau (NCB), Coram and Camden Council.

Parenting UK is part of a consortium formed to bid for this programme of work led by NCB with the support of PEAL consortium partners Coram Family, Thomas Coram Children's Centre, LB Camden Early Years Service, National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), National Childminding Association (NCMA) and Pre School Learning Alliance (PLA).

Starting later than the programme delivery strand, workforce development got under way in February 2006 when a consortium of the National Children's Bureau and Parenting UK began work on a 3 part programme.

A central part is the national roll-out of the Parents Early Years and Learning (PEAL) training. This will go to Children's Centre staff via 19 regional events, and to staff in the private and voluntary sector via regional events organised in partnership with the Pre-School Learning Alliance, National Day Nurseries Association and National Childminding Association. There are also separate events for local authority advisory staff. With our partner organisations we have recruited and prepared 40 trainers for rolling out PEAL training. Over 108 events have been booked around the country.

The programme also includes development of the PEAL materials to meet the needs of those specific workforces and some bursaries for practitioners who have already done the training to develop their own good practice examples for the programme's resource pack.

A second element is the provision of funding to 15 voluntary organisations to expand their existing training programmes on parental support for young children's learning. All 15 now have contracts to deliver agreed training programmes for early years practitioners, for community practitioners( e.g. parents supporting other parents), or for practice development. There are 20 programmes being delivered in total up to March of next year.

Lastly, the workforce strand includes an element of accreditation of this training against the newly developing national qualifications frameworks. An "accreditation team" headed by Gill Haynes, is working with the CWDC, QCA and awarding bodies to develop accreditation for PEAL and for any of the 15 sub-contracted organisations who would like it. Significant progress has been made towards accrediting PEAL as a level 3 unit of the Working With Parents Award.

There are also some "added value" elements to this workforce development strand such as support for sub-contracted organisations to consider the applicability of their approaches to the most excluded groups in the country. Additionally there is a link consultant working to ensure that PEAL and other training packages have clear lines of connection with the various quality improvement processes being used by local authorities and practitioners. NCB and Parenting UK are keen to ensure that this work adds value to existing initiatives.

For further information, to sign up for training events, download materials and research please go to the PEAL website

 

Sue Owen, Early Childhood Unit, NCB.

Last updated: 27th October 2008 at 02:10:18