First aid courses ?

[Ruthierhyme]

What first aid courses are available in your area, does your setting apply for funding or are you asked what training you need & courses are then arranged ?

we have a really wide ranging training programme here, all run by local eydcp, first iad is within this, it is all funded and you uust book onto a course that is best for you.

is run really well, and there are always courses around.

we are asked sometimes what we would like but dont know how this is transfered into trianing. the brochure is for the whole county and we pick the ones nearest to us

[DizzyDora]

Same as cybertwin all our training courses are run through EYDCP. Once a year a training bulletin is issued to all settings in the borough and we can book as many as we need all funded by the EYDCP. Includes all the regulars such as first aid, child protection health and safety etc. Only stipulation is, that only 3 people from each setting can attend any one session, bit of a nuisance if like us you only got 4 staff! All training courses are within the our borough.

DizzyDora

We are one of the providers of First Aid training for the Early Years sector in the East Midlands and East Anglia. As the initial posting implies, the way courses are set up and funding works varies considerably from one authority to another.
Cambridgeshire works on the basis that settings, or individuals in the case of childminders of course, find a course, pay for it and then forward the receipt to the Early Years Dept and they then receive a refund payment of £50 (currently) towards the cost of the course fee. Normally each setting is allowed two first aid places per year but this has recently, and maybe only temporarily, been increased to three. Cambridgeshire has started to offer "in-house" first aid courses where they are contracting with training companies directly and then advertising the courses to settings etc. who book onto them as required. This started in 2007 I think.
Lincolnshire work very differently. Lincolnshire maintain, arguably "illegally", a list of "approved" training providers and settings are then able to book onto courses arranged by the individual training providers. Lincolnshire, either directly or again as a refund to the setting, will only fund training courses delivered by training providers on their list. A cliche has developed and it is very difficult for a setting to access training with a provider not on the list and very difficult for new providers to get their name on the list - this being what makes it "illegal" I beleive according to local government "openness", "fair trading" and all that!
Rutland, the friendliest of them all, arrange a course programme which is published annually I think, and settings book people free of charge onto those courses. All of the first aid training in their course programme is delivered by one training provider (not us by the way!) but the county will pay for courses with other providers at the request of the setting.
Northamptonshire, different again, I believe maintain a list of "approved" training providers and agree the number of people each provider will train in any year. It is then up to the provider to fill the places they have been allocated and then, presumably, claim the funding from the county. A bit like Lincolnshire a cliche of providers seems to have developed and new providers getting onto the list is nigh on impossible.
Hope that makes sense!
Come back to me if you need any further clarification or I can be of any other assistance.
Mark

[Ruthierhyme]

Hi Mark, welcome to Silkysteps

Thanks for the information, it never ceases to amaze me how individual our Counties are !!

It's great that courses seem to be so widely available, one less concern to be thinking about .. certificates & funding have their own place on the worry list lol

It does make me wonder what it takes to ensure equality of trading lists if for whatever reason they currently penalise qualified companies from application.

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well. this morning i got a lovely letter to say that my county are now having thier budjet lowered and each setting will now have to pay a yearly sub to get training and bursaries!

because we are registered for 42 we will have to pay £300 a year, if you dont register it will be £80 per day of a course, and you wont get nvqs etc paid for.

so i do think that the £300 is fair, but, some settings will struggle with it,

[Ruthierhyme]

that is one can of worms Sarah and a gazillion soapboxes !

Tbh .. where todays guidelines require such high quality and standards of care, qualifications and skills for staff shouldn't be a financial burden on any early years settings.

Have you rung ofsted to ask if they have a local list of licensed training course providers that could give some quotes .. who inspects course providers (or aren't they lol ?

let us know how it goes .. does your gov.uk website have a residents/services feedback or live comments facility on there ?

xx

Hi Ruth and all

Further thoughts ... from what we have heard from September 2008, local authorities have been told they have to take some hand in accrediting training within the sector - the person telling me this didn't know where it had come from unfortunately. Maybe you do?

To this end many Early years First Aid training providers are looking at becoming accreditted by a new body set up to do a similar job to the work the NCMA and PLA did in accrediting training providers until a few years ago. The details on on their website ...



This organisation may well be a better group to contact to seek confirmation of the quality of training being provided in due course.

The national register of learning providers you have mentioned on this thread previously, as it is aimed at colleges and large scale businesses/organisations, would not have heard of the bulk of training providers in the UK offering First Aid for Early Years courses. Similarly the Health and Safety Executive, who accredit the four day First Aid at Work course, would also not have heard of many companies which offer the First Aid for Early Years (and Appointed Persons or Emergency Aid) courses only.

To make matters worse there is a move to make registration with the HSE compulsory for anyone delivering Appointed Person First Aid training in a year or two's time. If this happened (as the First Aid in Early Years course is also a recognised Appointed Persons course) there may well also be a need for Training Providers who are delivering First Aid in Early Years courses to be registered with the HSE anyway!

Nothing is ever straightforward in the UK is it!

Mark