Deregulation of the Early Years workforce

[Italiana]

Article in Nursery World and letter from Gove to Ofsted make clear the whole workforce is to be deregulated not just c/ms !!!

www.nurseryworld.co.uk/.../Gove-signals-further-moves-towards-deregulation

media.education.gov.uk/.../secretary%20of%20states%20letter%20to%20her%20majestys%20chief%20inspector%20ofsted.pdf

I like EYFS and Ofsted. I do realised I am in the minority here .

I am unsure whether I need to worry about my Government Funding for 3 yr olds and being inspected by people who know nothing about Childminding.

I have read everything I can find on this and there seem to be no definite answers, so I can't tell if it is good or bad (but I suspect bad).

I love being seen as a professional and I am just starting my EYP, so I hope that won't be for nothing.

A lot of people don't seem to have seen the links that Italiana was kind enough to post here for us and we should absolutely carry on sharing anything we find out about this and how it might affect us.

we are fighting against deregulation to save our businesses
Italiana - does that mean you are a childminder, a nursery, after-school club? I'm just wondering from what view point you are coming from. I'm with maples when she says you think deregulation will damage cm.

I no longer work in nursery/preschool but as a nanny. That has been the case for many years now. I've was in pre-school over 20 years ago when Ofsted did not exist - we had social services visit. I don't recall that much about that time, I was a pre-school assistant so I may not have taken much notice of social services visits, but I don't recall things being bad back then for business. There were many pre-schools (playgroups as they were called then) in the town in which I lived - I was on the local area Preschool Playgroups Association committee so knew about all the local groups.

EYFS seems here to stay and it has been revised to help make it clearer and to reduce emphasis on paperwork. That is good isn't it? Less paperwork, more time to spend with children.

HSMM I feel you are already inspected by people who don't know much about childminding. When I worked at Ofsted I was told by an inspection team manager that I could have applied for the CCI post and would have got it. Yet I've never been a childminder, I've just worked in playgroups, nurseries and as a nanny. I don't think all CCIs work for Ofsted anymore, in the south east (where I live) some, possibly all inspections are done by Tribal (click link for further information).

Is anyone able to list the things they feel are negative about things that have been announced, or things they think might be announced?

I think the main objection is that under an agency model, childminders would not have individual grading. However, did they have individual grading before Ofsted? I can't remember... does anyone remember how things were done back then?

My main concern is that we may end up being inspected, not by an independent body, but by our competitors - and be forced to pay them a fee for the privilege. I have watched with consternation as a nursery chain has been busily buying up children's centres in our area and I'm wondering if there's more to this move than simply acquiring all those resources bought by public funds in recent years. Their website mentions specifically support for childminders. I worry that a nursery chain will understand childminders and nannies even less than OFSTED did.

Prior to OFSTED, I believe it was Social Services who inspected childminders - again, independent inspectors.

I, too, am happy with the EYFS and my inspection experiences have been positive, although I have heard many horror stories from others - mainly in the earlier "signatures on every scrap of paper" days.

If someone starts telling me how much tocharge iI won't be happy. How many other businesses are told what they're allowed to charge ?

I was originally inspected by our local authority and they were a real pain

"How many other businesses are told what they're allowed to charge ?"

None. In fact it is illegal except where a law specifically allows it. Do you think any government in the 21st Century would propose a law legalising childcare cartels? Personally I'm watching out in case they do...

"I was originally inspected by our local authority and they were a real pain"

Personally I can see it heading this way - it would tie in well with some people's view of the localism agenda.

But anybody who remembers how badly this worked, or who observes the repeated failings of services run by local authorites would be insane to move in this direction. I'm still watching and waiting.

It is very good to see so many views and the many experiences we have gone through the years we have worked in childcare.
I have been in childcare almost 20 years and have worked in all settings, owned my own preschool.

i think that many need to understand what deregulation means and what is meant by an agency....and who can bid to become an agency
LAs can become one and many big companies and some may be thinking of bidding right now....thier aim will be to make money and they will at our expense

Nannynick I feel you are angry but my view is that deregulation will damage my business in the sense that I won't be in charge and yes someone will charge me for being my agency, tell me what to charge, send me parents I have not met or agreed with and impose Terms and Conditions that will increase red tape....
that is my view and I have reserched this subject...of course as a nanny you will not suffer from any of this.

As for the revised EYFS...there is no less paperwork...I have read it like many others and we have come to the conclusion it is the same.
It has been cleverly 'slimmed' down by DfE replacing it with 'edu speak' that uses less words
Inspections will focus on practice rather than paperwork but you still have to have it in place in case the inspector decides to ask for evidence...

Of course this is 'my personal view'...and I am willing to listen to yours !!

I am for deregulation that reduces unnecessary overheads. But I can't see that getting agencies involved as an extra tier of inspection will be a step forward.

I'm not a fan of EYFS because I've seen quite a few childminders post expecting parents to pick up the bill for the time the paperwork takes. I couldnt care less about the paperwork. You aren't doing it for me.

I'm not really sure thes proposal are a form of deregulation. They seem more like transfer of regulation.

I think it will result in childminders working cas in hand. Lots of parent use childminders because they are not satisfied with local nurseries. So why woul they want those nurseries overseeing the childminders?

As I say, I'm for deregulation, but this isn't it.

My concerns are for the children first. If you were to read what introducing an agency 'the middleman' means then you would find this worrying too perhaps

Just think of the banks ..they are NOT regulated now but there is a call for them to be Why?

Second worry is how I run my business, nothing wrong with that I am sure
Lots of wild guesses here but we must respect those in favour of deregulation and those who are not

Sorry forgot to ask...just out of curiosity how many have responded to the Childcare Commission? it closes at the end of the month. Best way to input your views

Sorry again with one more bit of information
Only 122 c/minders out of 57,000 responded to the EYFS consultation review.
Only around 5,000 out of 57,000 responded to NCMA survey to launch the Individual Inspection Matters and fight deregulation
the E-petiton against deregulation only has 9,280 signatures so a long way to go to 100,000 considering 57,000 c/ms would get us half way there

Childcare Commission? I hold no hope for any more that a few hundred
So our response can make a difference...up to us !!!

I just responded to the consultation.

I respond to everything, usually 4 times (my name, DH name, DD name and business name), so I reckon 4 of those 122 were me!

NB: DH is also a CM and DD is our VERY junior assistant (age 13).

I have been registered for over 19 years. When we were regulated by social services there was no grades at inspections. We were inspected once a year with spot checks in between-always 1 sometimes 2 where they would just turn up unannounced and demand to check your paperwork etc

I did, very leading questions though :(
must dash

Is there some 'guide' or something to all this deregulation thing? Something in 'layman terms' so that it can be easily understood by those of us who don't currently understand it all, or who don't have the time to keep going back through documents?

How will deregulation affect us personally? As a nanny, it may not affect me at all, or it might - who knows for sure what will happen. As someone with friends who run a nursery, or are a childminder, how will it affect them?

Is there more information about the 'agency model' and is that actually something government are seriously looking at, or just something that CentreForum mentioned?