Recruitment and Selection in Early Years Setting

This paper discusses the recruitment and selection procedure in early childcare settings. It covers legislative requirements, professional codes, job descriptions, person specifications, and methods to assess and select candidates.

Running head: EYFS CACHE
EYFS CACHE
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Impact on the selection and recruitment process in an early years setting
In this paper I will discuss about the recruitment and selection procedure in my early childcare
setting.
There are several steps involved in the selection and recruitment process. Selection of the
educators in the early childhood settings is much different from that of the recruitment process in
the other settings. While selecti9ng the employees, one has to remain careful about the education
and the qualification of the health care employees, the ethics, the legislative requirement, early
years training and several more.
Legislative requirement
The requirement and the selection of the staffs in a childcare workers is dependent on
certain regulations and laws, that all the employees must follow and there are some other
regulations and laws that is applicable to specific industries and sectors of workforce. Some of
the important legislation that is applicable to childcare industry are Children Act 1989 and 2004
ad Health and Social care act 2008 (Government of Dubai, 2016). As per the regulation of the
Child care Act, a registered provider should ensure that an effective management structure is in
place and appropriate staffs and the educators are recruited for ensuring the safety and the quality
of the care provided to the child attending the services (Government of Dubai, 2016).
A DBS certificate is required to check whether the person had any criminal records or
anyone who has been appointed to carry out any teaching the will have to undergo an additional
check (UAE 2017). Once DBS activity has been completed, it is necessary to check for the PNC
record of the applicants.

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Regulatory requirement in UAE
The recruitment of the illegal workers breaks the immigration policy of UAE and
provides a practically illegal means to remain unlawfully in the country. Recruitment of
employees in a childcare settings illegally is no only undercutting the legitimate business but also
put the life of children in the hand of some unscrupulous people (UAE 2017). Recruitment of the
illegal people can be threat from terrorism, abuse and other violent activities, putting the life of
small children at risk. According to the law, an early childhood educator should contain a
bachelor degree in any relevant field along with a degree or diploma in early year’s studies. A
safety first aid qualification is necessary.
Our organization employs some basic document checks in order to prevent such
unauthorized access. The original documents of the person is collected and the validity of these
documents are checked in place of a holder and a clear copy is retained. The date for the record
check is checked and kept a record. The recruiter will commit a criminal offence under the
section 21 of the 2006 act, if he /she is found to be employing an illegal worker (UAE 2017).
Some of the other requirement includes decision about the wage that is required to be
paid to someone. Out organization makes sure that all the staffs are paid as per the National
minimum wages, depending upon the designation and the age of the employee. Our organization
has a liability insurance as soon as one becomes a doctor. Our organization makes sure that the
employee are given a written statement if one is employing someone for more than one year.
Professional codes
Our organization, follows certain professional codes while recruiting staffs in early
childcare settings. The codes lay down certain minimum standards of conduct, that are
considered to be acceptable, and which none of the childcare workers should breach, if they are

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regarded to be professional and remain in the work. Individuals who work directly with the
children such as the educators and the caregivers have privileged access to them, and they can be
in a position of power over them and hence have both practical and ethical responsibilities for
their welfare.
Job descriptions
An appropriate job description clearly helps to set out the point of view of the employers,
of what the employees should do. It fully explains about the extent of the work that needs to be
done. It not only develops a good working relationship between the management and the staffs
preventing the occurrence of any encounter and disagreement later on about the duties and
accountabilities (Cheruvu e al. 2017). An appraising performance of job descriptions of the
employees are used in appraisals of the staffs and in support of the administrative assemblies
(Banerjee and Luckner 2014).
The job description posted by our organization contains ‘to the point’ information about
the job title, the location of the work, the person who will be reported to, the key areas of the
work and a details description of the duties and responsibilities (Bruder et al. 2016). For
example, a job description posted by the organization for the early childhood educator is given.
“Early childhood educators are accountable for the overall health and wellbeing of the kids the in
their classroom, requiring thorough monitoring of the children at the time of learning, the meal
time and the rest room breaks. An early childhood educator will also be responsible for providing
a safe and developmentally appropriate programs aligned with all the relevant government
initiatives”.

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It was made sure, that the posted job description included the hours and days of work, the
range of the remuneration, the technique and the regularity of pay. It also informs, whether the
job is provisional or permanent, information about the annual leaves, the length of the probation
period, details of any pension scheme is applicable.
Person specification
This is the more accurate criteria that helps the employers to choose the appropriate
person for the job. The give a reliable and an objective set of criterions and selection for all the
interviewees that can be measured and observed easily. In this organization, the person
specification criteria is segregated in to an essential criteria and a desirable criteria.
An example of person specification has been attached below:-

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Use of methods to assess and select the candidates

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Assessment of the candidates and shortlisting is the most important stage of the entire selection
process. In our organization, a recruitment panel meets soon after the closing date of the
advertisements for selecting the candidates to attend the interviews. The chairperson structures
ad facilitates the entire process and keeps an account of time (Jones et al. 2016). A maximum of
10-15 people meeting the essential criteria are called for the interview. During the shot listing of
the candidates, it is kept in mind that candidates are not excluded from further considerations due
to personal bias, gender, disability, race or age as mentioned in the Equality act 1998 and 2004
A face to face interview is generally taken along with a demonstration of simulated
teaching while while checking the eligibility criteria of the early child hood settings. Questions
are normally developed from the job specification and the job description (Mader-Clark 2013).
Candidates who are not successful at the shortlisting process are generally contacted by
the letters as soon as possible. Normally those individuals with a relevant degree in early
childhood diploma and fluent in English speaking is selected for the schools. The required
qualifications that are considered are first id certificates and child protection requirements like
working with children or the national policy checks.
Communicating the outcome of the selection process
Usually the successful candidates are informed verbally, followed by an offer letter to the
person with the position. It should be mentioned that, on this letter the HR manager ensures that
the job title is written along with the date of commencement along with the time and place. If the
candidates does not meet the eligibility criteria, the candidates are not appointed. Response can
only be provided directly to the candidate. The manager and the committee is dedicated to ensure
that the selection of the candidates is open and transparent.

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Specialist expertise in the recruitment process can involve observing the communication
skills and the body language of the individual, presence of emotional intelligence. The
candidates can be provided with real life situations and should be asked about prompt actions
that can be taken.
Various case reviews and enquiry report have been helpful in understanding the
contemporary landscape of the early childhood care centers. Cases of early childhood rights
breaching and case reviews of near misses that had occurred in the past have helped to establish
as of what lessons need to be learned from the case, by which the local organization and
professionals work individually and together for safe guarding and promoting the welfare of the
children. For example, there had been a case where an educator used corporal punishment for
managing a hyperactive child, although he possessed degree in childhood education. Such cases
have helped to understand that mere degree certificates will not be sufficient and an individual
will have to show a life demonstration of how they get along with the children.
In conclusion, it can be said that recruitment and selection of individuals in an early years
setting included screening of the degrees in compliance with the eligibility criteria, previous
experience in early years settings , criminal record checking and other legislation of Ministry of
education. This would be followed by an interview in accordance with a job description.

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References
Banerjee, R. and Luckner, J., 2014. Training needs of early childhood professionals who work
with children and families who are culturally and linguistically diverse. Infants & Young
Children, 27(1), pp.43-59.
Bruder, M.B., Dunst, C.J., Wilson, C. and Stayton, V., 2013. Predictors of confidence and
competence among early childhood interventionists. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher
Education, 34(3), pp.249-267.
Cheruvu, R., Souto-Manning, M., Lencl, T. and Chin-Calubaquib, M., 2015. Race, isolation, and
exclusion: What early childhood teacher educators need to know about the experiences of pre-
service teachers of color. The urban review, 47(2), pp.237-265.
Government of Dubai, 2016. Early Childhood Education and Care Dubai. Access date:
16.9.2019. .Retrieved from:
https://www.khda.gov.ae/CMS/WebParts/TextEditor/Documents/Early%20Childhood
%20Education%20&%20Care%20-%20Executive%20Report%20-%20Eng.pdf
Jones, R.A., Gowers, F., Stanley, R.M. and Okely, A.D., 2017. Enhancing the effectiveness of
early childhood educators and researchers working together to achieve common aims.
Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 42(1), pp.81-84.
Mader-Clark, M., 2013. The job description handbook. Nolo.
UAE, 2017.Early childhood development and care .Access date: 16.9.2019. .Retrieved from:
https://www.government.ae/en/information-and-services/social-affairs/early-childhood-
development-and-care