I did my EYPS; but what does it mean?

[KatyMac]

Is it QTS?

Am I an EY Teacher?

Do I have to do more training? I don't understand what's going on with it all

Nope, no way, Nick

I was reflective before; all I learnt is how much I knew & how much more I wanted to learn; I learnt no new facts or methodologies

& it scares me that a degree in Law or Engineering can be 'topped up' with virtually no practical experience.......I know my degree was in Change Management and Systems Thinking but tbh it was my years of experience that enabled the EYPS not my degree

But then the reason I did Change Management and Systems Thinking ws because of being a reflective practitioner....iyswim

I did EYPS in the 2nd year it was available... (and I do actually have a degree in engineering ). It was sold to me at the time as 'equivalent' to QTS, with changes coming in to improve the payscale - a way to get highly qualified graduates into the childcare sector.
When it became glaringly obvious that it was:
(1) just a way to get rid of having to pay teachers in some nurseries (where an expensive teacher could be replaced with an EYP); and
(2) there was no intention or indeed funds to have 'payscales' like teachers, I cut my losses and signed up for a PGCE Early Years.

After 5 years, I'm on £30K+. I would still be on probably ~15K if I'd stayed in a nursery.

Get a PGCE, stick to the state sector, and work in either reception or an LA-run nursery/school with a foundation stage unit. Then you get to work wth the age group you like but also get paid properly.

Hmmm. Reading the DOfE site from the links upthread, it appears that it is 'meaningless platitudes' (nice phrase OddBoots), exactly as it was when I did my EYPS - lots of "oh..this will be clarified later..."

So you get to train in as a much depth as a teacher, call yourself a teacher, but not get paid as a teacher (with salary prgression etc) or be employed on the same contract terms as a teacher.

From what I can gather Nannynick, EYPS/EYT is practice based and evidence is gathered to portfolio. Many year's experience doenst give you the depth and breadth of what is needed, ie: working for 30 years in a private nursery in a mainly white suburban setting will not give experience of the diverse society we actually live in.

Debduck, that's why you need to study for a degree before you do it (in my case anyway)
I didn't learn anything new on my EYP course, for me it was about validating my already good practice.
To get it I had to show i was already meeting all the standards, across the age ranges and more than once. I had to get witness statements from other people to validate it too.
So, it is a little bit more than just collating things to a portfolio. It involved interviews with my assessor where I had to demonstarte my knowledge and experience.
It has made a difference to me, I have got a better job, more responsibility, and more importantly, more money.