The government today announced an early years teachers’ degree apprenticeship standard and a new experience-based training route for existing members of the workforce.
The standard, developed alongside the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, will serve as a guide for employers and training providers to develop courses and recruit trainees, starting from next year.
The Department for Education said the three-year apprenticeship standard course will be designed to fit alongside the work that educators are already carrying out in early years settings.
It has also announced an experienced-based route (EBR), which will allow staff without an approved Level 3 qualification to demonstrate the skills needed to meet the criteria over a six-month supervision.
New training routes for early years staff
The announcement comes after the government said it will open 300 new or expanded school-based nurseries from next year.
Early education minister Stephen Morgan said the new training pathways are a “vital step in delivering an early years system that works for parents and providers, and makes sure thousands more children start school ready to learn”.
Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, welcomed the announcement amid what he described as a “severe” early years staffing crisis.
However, he said it is “absolutely vital that the rollout and impact of this policy is monitored closely, and this new route does not come at the expense of the quality of provision that children receive”.
Educators at Level 3 can lead childcare assistants in a room and manage settings.
The government said the EBR was developed in consultation with the sector and will “support early years providers to recruit and retain more staff”.
Level 3 early years educators ”are vital to supporting the childcare rollout, and more often than not it is the level that settings find it most difficult to fill”, it said.
However, the DfE added that this training route will “eventually be phased out”, replaced by a longer-term route that supports educators to “gain a full qualification and continue working at that level going forward”.
Staff wanting to undertake the EBR must have worked with early years children (aged up to 5) in an early years setting or a related sector in England for a minimum of one year. They must also hold at least a Level 2 qualification.
To offer the EBR to their staff, early years and school-based providers must be graded “outstanding” or “good” in their most recent Ofsted inspection.
Today’s announcement also comes after the DfE launched a £75 million expansion grant to help nurseries, childminders and other early years providers to deliver more places and additional staff needed for next year.
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