Clarification on the use of the national occupational standards

Uzma Ahmad, SkillsActive - 31/10/2007

Following the recent expansion of the age range for the new CCLD standards to encompass children and young people up to 16, SkillsActive and Skills for Care and Development have agreed that a clause would appear in the units of the respective standards to clarify their use.

The relevant clauses do not appear on every unit because some units are either common between the two sets of standards or imported from other National Occupational Standards.

The clauses are:

Playwork
This qualification is for you if you work in a setting or service whose main purpose is providing children and young people with opportunities for freely chosen self directed play.

Children’s Care, Learning and Development
This qualification is for you if you work in a setting or service whose main purpose is to provide play based or learning experiences that support the care, learning and development of children in partnership with their families and in the context of their communities.

In Playwork the settings would encompass:

• Adventure playgrounds
• Holiday Play Schemes
• After School Clubs
• School and Community Play Centres
• Mobile Play Projects
• Specialist Play Projects

In Children’s Care, Learning and Development the settings would encompass:

• Early years and child care, including child minders, day care workers, nannies and nursery workers and some out of school playworkers and classroom assistants
• Children and families’ centre based workers and crèche workers

Staff who undertake a CCLD qualification including the optional Playwork unit are not qualified as a playworker.
It is important to protect the integrity of both sets of standards and their accompanying values and principles.  For workers who are currently employed in Early Years, Child Care or Playwork settings and have a Level 3 qualification in their current sector who wish to make the transition from one to the other the following awards are available:

Level 3 Award in Early Years and Child Care for Playworkers
Level 3 Award in Playwork for Early Years and Child Care Workers

For more information please contact playwork@skillsactive.com