Children First 2006 - Quality counts

Quality counts

Written by Avril Simcox, Accreditation Officer, Pre-school Learning Alliance

To enable early years settings to provide the highest quality care and education for your child, the Alliance runs an accreditation scheme, Aiming for Quality. Avril Simcox explains the accreditation process and its benefits.

Ensuring that your child gets the highest quality care and education at their early years setting is clearly vital. In order to help settings to achieve this, and to enable parents to choose good-quality settings, the Alliance runs a quality assurance/accreditation scheme called Aiming for Quality.

Though the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) makes sure that standards in early years education and care are acceptable, the Pre-school Learning Alliance believes that all young children and their families are entitled to the very best care and education – and as a result we developed Aiming for Quality.

A high-quality scheme

Aiming for Quality is based upon the National Standards for Day Care issued by the Department of Education and Skills and combines research, advice and experience from the Pre-school Learning Alliance and from other professionals in the field of early childhood care and education. It is endorsed by Investors in Children (IiC), an initiative developed by Sure Start. The endorsement is a sign of rigorous standards and tells parents that a setting accredited through IiC is committed to delivering high-quality care and education, and positive outcomes for children.

Benefits of accreditation

Early years settings are often the first place that young children go to regularly, away from their homes and families. It is here that, through structured play and interaction with experienced, qualified staff, children continue to learn the key skills that they will use for the rest of their lives. The importance of providing a quality early years service is therefore vital as it supports the development of these skills. By joining and successfully completing our accreditation scheme, the setting can clearly demonstrate their commitment to providing children with the best possible start in life.

Improving care and education

Aiming for Quality enables settings to build upon the good foundation of statutory registration and inspection, and supports them to further improve the quality of care and education they offer. It increases the status of settings and makes sure they get proper recognition from parents, from their local communities and from Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships for the high standards they achieve.

A journey towards excellence

Accreditation under Aiming for Quality is a journey towards excellence in which settings look at their practices and build on requirements for registration and inspection. It has two broad elements:
A continuous cycle of assessment and critical review through which settings identify areas of development – and draw up and implement action plans to assure and improve the quality of their care and education.
External validation of the high standards of settings by the Pre-school Learning Alliance as IiC-endorsed provider of an accreditation/quality assurance scheme.

The accreditation process also has three manageable stages:

Stage 1
The requirements for stage 1 exceed the National Standards for Day Care by a small margin. Settings send the Pre-school Learning Alliance Accreditation Office written evidence that their practice meets the required standards. Most of the evidence will be contained in the setting’s policies, procedures, staff, parent, student and volunteer induction packs and the prospectus.

An accreditation assessor examines the evidence and either confirms that stage 1 has been achieved or identifies areas in need of development. These are written on an action plan with positive feedback on what has been achieved. If more than three areas are in need of development, the setting has to carry out further work before qualifying for stage 1.

The Accreditation Panel will then verify the action plan and the setting will get a certificate showing stage 1 has been achieved.

Stage 2
This stage represents a very good standard of care and education. An independent accreditation assessor, trained and appointed by the Pre-school Learning Alliance, visits settings and assesses them against the standards of good practice identified in Aiming for Quality for stage 2.

The assessor discusses their judgements with the setting and, if all aspects meet the required standards, a request for stage 2 of accreditation is forwarded to the Pre-school Learning Alliance’s National Accreditation Panel. Settings successful at stage 2 get a certificate celebrating their achievements. If, however, some areas don’t yet meet the necessary standards, the assessor draws up action plans and agrees timescales to enable the setting to make the required improvements. This may mean a further visit.

Stage 3
We expect and believe that most settings will want to demonstrate their commitment to the highest quality in care and education by continuing the ‘journey’ of quality to achieve full accreditation.

Stage 3 covers any areas of development identified at stage 2, together with criteria for stage 3. A Pre-school Learning Alliance accreditation assessor visits the setting, unannounced, to verify the report. The setting has the chance to let the Accreditation team at the National Centre know of any days that are unsuitable, such as the setting going on a visit.

Once the panel is satisfied that the Alliance’s rigorous standards are complied with, the setting is sent a full Aiming for Quality accreditation certificate.

Challenges

Our experience tells us that some settings feel anxious about beginning the process of accreditation. They may, for example, be worried about financial constraints, changes in the membership of their committees, staff changes – or problems with their premises may make it difficult to complete the process. Possible barriers to achieving accreditation are:

Setting not meeting the National Standards for under-eights.
Lack of support from development worker or mentor.
Staff, parents and committee not working as a focused team.
Lack of understanding about the process or criteria.
Lack of conviction about achieving accreditation, often fostered by being “told we had to do it”.
Unrealistic timescales.
Staff not allocated additional time/pay for the work required.
Staff not responsive to change.
Staff not suitably qualified.

With over 40 years of experience with settings, we know that these problems need not necessarily act as barriers to accreditation. Many settings can and do provide the highest standards even though they work against a background of financial hardship and meet in less than ideal premises.

With over ten years’ experience in supporting settings to achieve accreditation, the accreditation team at our National Centre has developed high levels of expertise in helping settings to overcome any barriers to accreditation. In addition, we or the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership appoint a mentor for each setting. The mentor makes sure that everyone in the setting understands the details of the accreditation process and they provide support and advice throughout the accreditation process.

The accreditation scheme – Aiming for Quality:

Is a journey towards excellence, ensuring the highest possible standards of education and care for all children.
Puts children and their individual needs first.
Makes sure settings provide a comprehensive profile of their setting without producing copious amounts of paperwork.
Is designed with parents in mind and the important role they play in the care and education of children.
Encourages each setting to assess the needs of the local community and review its services to meet those needs.
Encourages all staff, parents and volunteers in lifelong learning and personal development.

Further information
For more details about the Pre-school Learning Alliance’s accreditation scheme visit http://www.pre-school.org.uk , or contact the National Centre on tel: 020 7697 2500

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