Dean Profile - Danielle Carey
Dean of the School of Childhood and Education
On leaving school in 1979 I came to UCB (or as it was then; Birmingham College of Food and Domestic Arts) to complete a National Nursery Examination Board (NNEB) programme, having successfully achieved this qualification I worked in various child care settings including: residential special school, family centre, day nursery, nursery class and primary school.
In 1995 I returned to the college on a part time basis and completed an Advanced Diploma in Childcare and Education, this was the beginning of my lifelong learning journey, for the majority of the time since 1995 I have been a part time student. I fully understand the pressures of studying part time whilst holding down a full time job and being a mother but know from personal experience that this can be achieved and the satisfaction this brings. During the past nine years I have gone on to successfully complete a BA (Hons) in Child Care and Education at UCB and a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education at Sheffield University. I am currently completing a Doctorate in Education, also at Sheffield University which I hope to complete in 2010.
I came to work at UCB in 1998, during my time here I have taught on a variety of Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) courses from level two FE to Masters Level. In addition I have been an external examiner since 2006 and have been involved in a number of consultancy projects relating to Children’s Workforce Development. It is an exciting time in the child care sector with government initiatives creating new and diverse job roles. In order to professionalise the Children’s Workforce many of these roles in the future will require a graduate. This is evidenced by the Governments target of having a graduate in every early years setting by 2015.
During my time at UCB the programmes on offer have expanded and will continue to do so. Our courses are designed to meet the current and future needs of the sector and have resulted in the profile of courses on offer reflecting the changing roles within the Children’s Workforce. It is crucial that HE institutions work closely with employers to ensure qualifications address the needs of the workforce at the appropriate level within the chosen field. This was clearly the case when developing our FdA’s for Professional Learning Mentors and Community Family Support Workers.
One of my proudest moments at UCB was when a student I had taught on NVQ Level 2 in Early Years was one of the first students to complete her PGCE.