Anderida's Blog

Goodbye NVQ. Hello Diploma.

As the new Level 2 Certificate and Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People’s Workforce begins to roll out in order to replace the NVQ in the Care of Children and Young People, Anderida get prepared to offer assessment to individuals and other organisation’s staff looking to earn the new qualification.

Anderida Adolescent Care has long been equipped with a team of in-house NVQ Assessors ensuring that all staff are reaching their full potential and are equipped with the most suitable NVQ level relevant to their position; all Anderida staff must have had or been working towards an NVQ Level 3 in the Care of Children and Young People. Now the qualification framework has changed – but not, we are delighted to say, just for the sake of it! As the CWDC explains,

“The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) launches a new framework to improve the way foundation degrees are developed for practitioners working with young people.

The new foundation degree framework illustrates good practice relevant to the 6 million practitioners working with young people in England. Their work is often complex and demanding and spans a range of sectors and settings.

The workforce has been calling for more support and greater clarity on the professional development opportunities available to them and this framework will help them to provide better, more consistent services for young people.

CWDC has developed the framework through consultation with young people, learners, employees, training providers, employers and sector experts. Feedback shows that many practitioners are keen to improve their skills and develop their career working with young people.

The new foundation degree framework has been designed to help them do that, providing opportunities for practitioners to strengthen specialist skills and improve the ways in which they work together.

This news has been welcomed by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS). Speaking on their behalf, Paul Greenhalgh, Executive Director for Children, Young People and Learners, London Borough of Croydon said:

“We are pleased to see that CWDC has developed this framework through consultation with employers, training providers, learners and young people. It will bring an element of commonality to the wide range of foundation degrees available for the young people’s workforce while encouraging the development and recognition of specialist skills.”

The foundation degree framework provides clearer development routes for those choosing a career working with young people. Employers can also use it to support learning across a range of different sectors, enhancing their practice in three key areas: working with young people; working together; developing specialist expertise.”

At Anderida, we have been delighted with the changes that we have seen. The qualification aptly reflects the type of work that we do in residential child care. We have worked quickly to adapt to the changes and our team of NVQ Assessors are now in a position to assess under the new framework.

With the development of the new qualification comes the development of our own Assessment Centre and we are pleased to be able to offer a fully supported Level 2 Certificate for the Childrens and Young People’s Workforce and Level 3 diploma for the Childrens and Young peoples Workforce which includes workshops at our training centre and support and assessment within your practice.

The CWDC website has plenty of information about the qualification here and if you would like to discuss utilising our Assessment Centre, please do get in touch here.