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Nurseries will now be able to "look further afield" for staff to help combat "unremitting" struggles caused by a post-covid exodus and Jersey graduates failing to enter the workforce.
Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles has approved a policy change allowing work permits to be issued to "third country nationals with the necessary skills, qualifications and experience required for the Jersey Early Years sector" for a salary of £30,000 or above.
Third country nationals are individuals who are not from the UK or one of the member states of the European Union.
The change followed a request from GR8 Employment Solutions on behalf of Jersey Early Years Association and La Petit Ecole to include 'Nursery Practitioners and Assistants' in the work permit policy, which "centred on the need to recruit qualified and experienced staff into the Early Years Care Sector to meet the demand".
A background report on the work permit policy change said it should "assist in easing some of the labour shortage pressures being felt by the Early Years sector in the island, whilst ensuring that high quality and rigorous safety standards are maintained".
In 2021, report by former Education Minister Tracey Vallois and early years professionals called for a 'Transformation Fund' to help islanders to study related degrees as part of a drive to increase the quality of pre-school education and level of homegrown talent working in the sector. The concept was not progressed.
The background report said that, previously, recruitment in the Early Years sector came from students graduating from Highlands College with a Level 3 qualification in childcare.
However, now, "many students are not entering the workforce and choosing to use the qualification as a springboard to studying primary school teaching at university".
The report also noted that the existing workforce is "feeling the pressures brought about by child-staff ratios and the lingering effects of covid resulting in many choosing to leave the sector and seek employment elsewhere".
Pictured: Recruitment in the Early Years sector traditionally came from Highlands College graduates, but many are now choosing to go to university instead of straight to work.
It said that nurseries are "struggling to recruit and retain their existing workforces", describing the "demand for both qualified and non-qualified staff" as "unremitting".
The cost-of-living crisis pushing parents back to work, and the statutory ratio of staff to children are also cited in the report as reasons why the sector is struggling for staff.
"The sector has tried to attract suitably qualified practitioners from the UK but the salary packages and the higher cost of living in the island make it unattractive," the report adds.
Therefore, the report concludes that the only "viable solution" is to "look further afield and employ suitably qualified and experienced early years practitioners from abroad".
The "issuance of work permits to third country nationals with the necessary skills, qualifications and experience required for the Jersey Early Years sector" is described as the "solution to the recruitment issue".
Pictured: The changes to the work permit policy have been approved by the Minister for Home Affairs Deputy Helen Miles.
The report confirms that recruitment will be in line with Government of Jersey Safer Recruitment Guidance, and "it is proposed that all qualifications held by potential candidates will be scrutinised by CEYS [Childcare and Early Years Service] to ensure that they are comparable with Jersey standards".
Meanwhile, the Assistant Minister for Education and Children, Deputy Louise Doublet has recently completed the first phase of a review to inform the policy development around early years education and childcare in Jersey.
The recently-published evidence paper provides an overview of key messages from UK and international evidence on what an optimal early childhood education and childcare offer looks like for children’s wellbeing and development.
Authored by Isos Partnership at a cost of £15,675, the Government said the paper would "help inform long-term strategic thinking about the direction of early education and childcare in Jersey, and ensure that short-term decisions and policies are consistent with this vision".
Among its findings were that care from friends or relatives is commonly relied upon where there is no access to free or cheap formal nursery care, and that this was common in Jersey, in part due to the high level of female employment.
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