Why childcare apprenticeships are a vital tool in creating future pathways to long-term careers…
Today, there is an increasing appreciation of the importance of high-quality early years provision. The first five years of a child’s life are critical for their long-term development, and early years educators play a vital role in ensuring positive outcomes for young children.
Early years practitioners have the unique opportunity to pursue a career with purpose, foster a love of learning in young children, and make a positive, lasting impact on their early development.
However, the sector continues to face pressing skills gaps and a growing recruitment and retention crisis. This will only worsen unless we take urgent action.
The early years sector has seen significant change in recent years, following the expansion of free childcare under the Conservative government. Labour is set to extend this further by September 2025.
Plus there’s Labour’s pledge to open up an additional 3,000 new nursery places. This is in addition to changes to government-funded childcare hours.
The new measures will offer up to 30 funded hours of childcare per week, over 38 weeks of the year, to children aged nine months and over. The policy is set to be delivered from April 2024 to September 2025.
According to the Department for Education’s projections, we need around 70,000 new places and 35,000 additional early years educators to meet the demand placed on the childcare sector through the planned expansion of government-funded entitlements.
The sector is also responding to the urgent challenges around SEND provision in early years.
Recent reports highlighted that a shortage of special needs support in the sector, combined with rising numbers of children diagnosed with special educational needs, is increasing pressure on childcare providers and schools.
DfE data shows that the number of youngsters with an education, health, and care plan for SEND in England has soared to the highest rate in six years.
With the early years sector facing evolving challenges and growing pressures, the need for a highly trained and motivated workforce is more important than ever.
However, for nursery providers, staff retention remains a key concern. With the sector typically attracting a younger workforce, competition from other industries is fierce, and many young recruits may not consider early years as a long-term career option.
This is where early years apprenticeships can help. And not just for new or younger recruits – childcare apprenticeships can offer fresh career routes and on-the-job skills training for existing employees of all ages.
Open to anyone aged 16 or over, apprenticeships allow practitioners at all levels to upskill and learn while they work and can deliver significant benefits to nursery providers too.
Early years apprenticeships are a vital tool in creating future pathways to long-term careers, with a focus on hands-on training and development.
By providing access to childcare apprenticeships, nursery providers can develop their current team without disrupting the business.
An excellent way to boost team morale, it can help to demonstrate a strong commitment to staff development.
Training providers work in close collaboration with nursery managers to ensure that all teaching can be applied directly to their employees’ day-to-day roles, ensuring maximum engagement and results.
They can also offer guidance on available funding and grants to support the process.
As a trusted training provider, Shaping Lives builds on two decades of experience in the early years sector and the successful delivery of tens of thousands of apprenticeships. We’re also the first early years educator to introduce a SENDCo specialism available to all learners, after identifying this as a vital step forward to support children and families.
By offering childcare apprenticeships to existing employees, nursery providers can support the professional development of their workforce, help future-proof the business, and, most importantly, foster a highly skilled team that can provide the best outcomes for young children.
Mark Botha is CEO of Shaping Lives.
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