The New Year is approaching, and our team of recruitment experts in Clifton have been asking what's in store for Bristol Early Years agencies in 2025.
The Early Years sector has been busy across Bristol in 2024, with lots of nursery nurse jobs across various BS postcodes throughout the year.
Bristol is a fantastic city to live and work in, with many Early Years candidates being attracted to the area to work in nursery settings.
There are challenges to be faced, however, across the whole sector in the UK.
Our recruitment consultants in Clifton have seen experienced candidates leaving the sector, as well as a few nursery settings closing their doors.
Working in Early Years is so rewarding, but the sector still needs to see more continuous development being offered. Few people see it as a job for life.
Apprenticeships are fine, for example, but they do not always provide practitioners with best-practice role modelling. This is so important.
We have heard of Bristol Early Years agencies interviewing candidates with childcare degrees that are no longer deemed by the Government to be full and relevant qualifications.
This can be devastating news for a practitioner when they have studied at university, gained their qualification, got into debt and are then told they need to study again for an NVQ.
For a childcare qualification to be full and relevant it needs to be consistent with the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for Higher Education benchmark standards for Early Childhood Studies.
Students must also have been assessed on their practical skills within an Early Years setting. However, many universities do not insist that students work in a nursery, preschool or similar setting if they do not have another childcare qualification.
This means that these students know the theory but not the practical.
It is critical for universities to be honest with students about what exactly the course entails, whether the students need to work and be assessed in a childcare setting, and whether their degrees are considered full and relevant.
We feel that Early Years qualifications need to be clearer and simpler, for both Level 6 Childcare degrees and Level 2 qualifications gained in schools.
Childcare needs to be linked to the QAA, with annual checks being carried out as they are in other professions such as Nursing.
This would make the sector far more appealing and would help hugely in the battle to retain experienced candidates across the city.
Bristol Early Years agencies will continue to face this problem in 2025, and it needs to be addressed for the benefit of all nursery settings and candidates.
The team are always available to have an informal chat with Early Years practitioners of all experience levels and can be reached on 0117 930 4000 or by visiting here.