The ECD Social Services Practitioners Advocacy Network (SSPAN) working group, which is made up of experts in the field, including Linda Biersteker, Sanja Bornman, Erina Muir, Maria Monama, Mary Newman and Lauren Van Niekerk, have published a discussion paper on ECD and the Social Service Professions Bill.

The document has been published to encourage discussion about the implications of the Bill for the registration of ECD practitioners. The drafters of the document invite all interested persons to send their comments and concerns to the drafting group at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by11 February 2011.

Once the Social Services Professions and Occupation Bill becomes law it will replace the outdated Social Service Professions Act (110 of 1978).

The Bill creates the space for the recognition of ECD practitioners as a category of social service practitioners. The Discussion Document seeks to highlight the potential benefits and potential adverse consequences if ECD practitioners were in fact to be recognised and registered in terms of the Bill.

The Document points out that the term “ECD practitioner” has a long history in South Africa. It originally referred to ECD workers that were not qualified ECD teachers, but has no come to refer to a wide range of ECD role players, including community outreach workers, ECD teachers and those involved in training ECD teachers.

The question raised by the Document is: Does the sector want to lobby for the recognition and registration of this range of ECD practitioners as Social Services Practitioners in terms of the Bill and if so, what regulatory body should be responsible for registering ECD practitioners?

The drafters raise the following points for consideration by the sector:

• Would registration create better quality ECD services?
• Is registration important for formalising career-pathing?
• Is the ECD sector ready, in terms of having enough qualified people, to become an emerging social services profession?
• If the qualification level for registration is set too high, does the prospect of registration serve to exclude rather than empower ECD practitioners?
• Would registration fees serve to further exclude ECD practitioners?

The drafters are seeking to encourage discussion and debate about these pro’s and cons of lobbying for the inclusion of ECD practitioners in the ambit of the Bill.

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ECD and the Social Services Profession Bill