PACEY

This project, led by PACEY – the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years, delivered a step-change in how CPD can support childcare practitioners, harnessing digital technology to enable them to learn for free, at times and in ways that suit them, with the assurance that the learning provided is compliant with regulations.

Regulation is changing for early years providers and childcare practitioners who, in order to be allowed to care for 0-5 year olds, must demonstrate they are meeting Ofsted’s new education inspection framework and the requirements set out for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

The platform offers bite-sized CPD modules to help childcare practitioners with this process. It enables them to better understand what these changes are and how they can support children in their care to reach the underlying developmental stages they need to be ready for school.

The platform provides users with interactive tools to self-evaluate the areas of the EYFS/EIF regulations they need to understand further as well as access to modules summarising the key changes. The platform leads learners into CPD modules directly related to their personal requirements. Content is delivered in bite sized chunks, through video observation of good practice, peer learning, curated searches etc.

An smart e-tracker helps learners to monitor their progress, celebrate milestones, and share ideas with colleagues. The platform creates an online learning community with a ‘social’ approach to learning in which participants can share success with peers, receive goal-based rewards, all with the assurance of content from PACEY.

The new platform remains core to the charitable objectives of PACEY and is free to access.  The project aims develop a sustainability plan to continue to offer the platform's services for free and to keep it up to date, through PACEY’s other income sources such as paid-for training and advertising.