Early years workforce including childminders
The expansion of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) has created thousands of jobs across Scotland and the ELC workforce now exceeds 46,000 people.
Recruiting and investing in ELC professionals
We ran a national recruitment campaign to attract people to a career in ELC, ensuring they were supported and able to develop in their roles.
We also worked with the Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland to create additional capacity in the college and work-based learning sectors to train the additional staff required, including funding additional graduate level training places and Equity and Excellence Leads to support leadership within the sector. We have successfully recruited around 8,000 additional professionals, with the workforce now exceeding 46,000 people.
Investing in skills
Delivering a high quality early learning experience for children requires a dedicated, skilled and well-qualified workforce and we have invested in the workforce as we have grown it. Our national early learning and childcare induction pack supports new staff and provides advice and information to help them develop their skills and understanding.
In collaboration with leading partners, further learning opportunities are provided to support professionals throughout their career journey and continually enhance practice, for example through the suite of free continued professional learning (CPL) modules and a National Directory of CPL.
Pay and conditions
We encourage fair work practices across the ELC sector, including ensuring that staff are fairly remunerated.
To support this we provide local authorities with sufficient funding to allow them to set and pay sustainable rates to funded providers in the private and third sectors that enables the payment of the real Living Wage to ELC workers delivering the funded entitlement.
Childminding
Childminders provide high-quality childcare in a nurturing, home-based environment. They provide a unique, flexible and tailored experience of childcare and we recognise and value the role that childminders play in delivering 1,140 hours of high quality funded early learning and childcare.
We want to encourage more people into childminding and are working with the Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA) and other partners to address the decline in the childminding workforce – a trend that is mirrored elsewhere in the UK.
We are committed to building a thriving childminding sector and to promoting childminding as a valued and fulfilling career choice.
We aim to grow the childminding profession by 1,000. We have funded the Scottish Childminding Association to develop a national childminder recruitment and retention programme. Read more: Programme for Scotland’s Childminding Future.
Childminder recruitment
This programme builds on previous pilots and allows a tailored approach to attracting new childminders, where local authorities choose to participate. Recruitment via the programme will be available in 16 local authorities during 2024 to 2025.
The programme offers:
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a £750 start-up grant to new childminding businesses
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a package of support and training available to successful applicants
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everything needed to establish a new childminding business from home
Childminder retention
Addressing barriers to retention will be critical to safeguarding the future of the childminding workforce. The programme will implement a range of measures to support workload and professional development.
This includes trialing a mentoring scheme, and models of funded time off to allow childminders to take part in activities such as planning and continuous professional learning.
To find out more about the programme and information about becoming a childminder, see the SCMA website: www.childminding.org/getstarted