Cumbria celebrates child care recruitment scheme

Launched last October, the Cumbria Sure Start Making Choices
scheme has seen more than 150 people attend free four-day courses
aimed at encouraging them to go into child care as a career.

Councillor Joan Stocker, spokesperson for education, said:
“It’s the second fastest growing industry sector; more
child care workers are needed to meet the demand from
parents.”

The courses, which will run until 2005, are open to people of
all backgrounds and ages. Those attending are able to visit local
child care providers to “see for themselves what it is like
to work in the sector”.

Stocker said that the council had tried to find innovative ways
to target under-represented groups through approaches such as
“taster sessions”, which were held before the four-day
courses. “We have a strategy  where we will try and recruit
people who may never have thought of becoming child care workers
before.”