Certificate in Pre-School Practice (Has anyone done this)

[CHUNKYMUNKEY]

Hi all,

I am currently a SAHM, my dd is at Reception full time, I am debating whether to start this course in April, has anyone completed this course and gone on to work with pre-school kids. My main sticking point is, is the qualification good enough to work in a playschool, creche, etc. I don;t want to complete the course and find gaining employment difficult. Would like to hear if anyone has experience of this.

hiya, im looking to do the same sort of thing when mt ds starts nursery in sept, very daunting prospect though.

think i remember your name, are you in hillingdon?

Hovering too - My dd2 starts reception in September so I'm trying to decide what to do next. This is something I've considered. It's a great job to be in - useful for school hols etc. Interesting what comments people have to make here.

I did a getting started in pre school certificate.

It was okay, but generally it's stuff you'll probably know already, eg v basic nutrition, crasfts, illness, etc, with a bit of theory thrown in.

It could be a different course, mine was funded by PLA.

I had worked in DD1's nursery, and they asked me to do the course as it was a v basic introductuion.

If you really want to work in a pre school, best to fins somewhere that will take you unqualified and let you work towards NVQ3, or a diploma in it. Some will let you go in as a volunteer, or you may be lucky to get one that pays.

HTH.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I agree Sparkler1 about the school holidays, i did think of doing a Teaching Assistant course but I don't think that would be for me, i love the pre-school age. The course requires a work placement in a nursery or creche so although unpaid i would be gaining experience as well.

I am doing the Diploma in Pre-school Practice atm. It's interesting and quite in-depth so hard work as I work in Early Years every morning and have 3 dds. I think the Certificate is NVQ2 level and most places seem to want NVQ3 equivalent so make sure you check that out.

Thanks Kate, I have decided to start the course. I am thinking after doing the Certificate of going on to do the Diploma. I have seen a few employers wanting at least NVQ2 but i would like to go to NVQ 3. When you go on to doing the Diploma how many hours in a pre-school setting do you have to do? I am logging off now but will check this thread again in a few days. Thanks again for all replies.

Hi Chunkymonkey, sorry missed your last message. For the Diploma you need 150 hours certified in a setting. Good luck with the Certificate. Working in pre-school is fun

The Certificate in Pre-school Practice is Level 2

DfES has a handy list of childcare qualifications at various levels Childrens Workforce: Qualifications

Pre-Schools are sessional groups, so looking at the National Standards for Sessional groups , half of the staff at a pre-school should be Level 2 qualified.

Therefore Chunkymonkey, the course you have decided to do looks ideal for working in a sessional group. Following the course you can then move on to Level 3, which is the required qualification to manage a sessional group.

With regards to work experience: aim for a pre-school / playgroup not a nursery! If you don't know of groups in your area, ask the school secretary as they probably have a list of Feeder pre-schools. A small, local pre-school could be ideal - and you never know, you may even get paid for sessions you do, if they are short of staff!

I was in the same position... kids at school, and I took a job at our local pre-school.

I am now doing my NVQ3 in childcare and education.
I love it although there is a lot of extra work involved, things like observation write ups, FSP, school reports,all done at home.. (+NVQ work) and the money isn't that good either. (school cleaners get more!) Holidays are good though but we very rarely get a full month at work, there always seems to be a half term, or some sort of holiday which really affects my wages.
I do love the job though... and really enjoy working with children

by the wayI thought you had to be working in a educational setting to do these courses.. if not who funds them??

forgot to mention, I was adviced to go straight for the level 3 qualification... maybe you could if you were thinking of doing it eventually anyway..

Thanks again for the replies. Rummum i am doing this course with the local adult education centre and they fund 80% of the course fees as they want to train more people into childcare. NannyNick can i ask your advice, i looked at the level 2 qualifications on the link you gave and i have one, a BTEC Diploma in Care, i passed this course after i left school, but haven't worked in childcare since gaining that diploma as i ended up working in an office instead! could i go for the level 3 qualification straightaway rather than starting with level 2? would be grateful for any knowledge you may have as this would be fantastic if i could. Again i might not be on mumsnet over the weekend but will check this thread again next week. Thanks all.

I don't understand what you mean....
the BTEC Diploma in Care is a level 3, why would you want to do another level 3 or even 2 course??

can't you work with children with the qualifications you already have??

Hi chunkymunkey,

I completed the CPP in July last year and did mine through the National Extension College. It is a really good course for working with children aged 3+ and I think it is more appropriate for work in Pre-schools than the NVQ is. Good Luck and I hope you enjoy the course.

Chunky, What you may like to do, is to contact Ofsted (i suggest via e-mail) and see if they can tell you if they would accept it as a Level 3 qualification suitable for working in childcare. You can also enquire with DfES using their online from for such enquiries - Qualifications Enquiry Form

The qualifcation needs to Map against criteria which is matched against the National Standards for under 8s daycare.

Thanks for all replies again. Rummum i completed a BTEC First Diploma in Care which according to the link is a level 2 qualification which i hadn't previouly realised. Although this course was mainly about children it covered working with the elderly as well and i didn't think that would be a strong enough qualification to work with children without doing an NNEB, NVQ, CPP etc. However if this is good enough at level 2 then i want to go further and train to level 3 standard doing the Diploma in Pre-School practice. I hope i have made some sense amongst my ramblings. Thanks for the encouragement Laura and nannynick i will contact Ofsted, thanks for the advice.

It's interesting to read this thread. I've contacted the CIS and they are sending me a pack in the post of courses, qualifications, current job availability etc. Hopefully, I can get things underway then.

It sounds good then, as \link{http://www.openquals.org.uk/openquals/qualificationDetails.aspx?QualificationID=2628/BTEC First Diploma in Caring} is level 2, so you could work in a pre-school as an assistant while you do level 3 training.

I'm doing the new childcare NVQ3, but I'm wondering whether to do a level 2 certificate as well. I'd like to be able to work in a preschool, so while I know the NVQ will be good for that, I was wondering if the pre-school people would prefer it if I had a pre-school specific course too?

rummum - one of the problems working in childcare is keeping up to date with training and things like that, doesn't matter what courses you've done there's always more....

lunavix... whats the new NVQ3... I'm still doing the old NVQ3.. I work in a pre-school and as I understand it, the level 3 is higher than the 2, and you don't need both.
At a level 3 you could manage the pre-school.

rummum - the new NVQ3 is not called 'early years' it's called Childrens Care Learning and Development.

Basically it's come about because the people who run it (is it edexcel?) have decided anyone could do the old one and it was too easy (their words not mine!) as any 16 year old could complete it easily, and some colleges churned it out in 9 months or so. This one I believe is compulsory to take two years to complete (part time anyways) and they've said it's a lot harder and a lot more work.

I believe having an NVQ3 will get you a job anywhere but I felt preschools might prefer it if you have a relevant qualification - for example, I'm a childminder, and I HAVE to have the level one childminding certificate, even if I had nvq3 previously. The nvq3 doesn't teach what the level one does, even though it would get you a good job in a nursery.

Thanks again for all your replies. I am going to speak to the Adult Education Centre this week about starting with the Diploma rather than the Certificate and see what they say, my concern is that my BTEC may have been too long ago to be relevent now, and i know what you mean Lunavix about the constant differences in training and courses, it is hard to keep up. I shall keep my eye on this thread and i will let you know what happens later on this week.

Hi I did the Cache Diploma in Playgroup Practice in Wles which is a level 3. Level 3 qualifications are suitable for senior playgroup and nursery jobs. Level 2's are gooe for working as assitants.

Hi everyone, just to update, I have spoken to my tutor on the Pre-School Practice course and she has told me that as the BTEC qualification i have wasn't gained recently and i haven't been working with children i would need to start with the Certificate level and then go on to the Diploma. So this is what i am doing and my course starts after the Easter hols, so thanks everybody for their advice and experience as you helped me make my mind up.