Apprenticeships in Early Years

Training Manager Fay Gibbin tells us more about Apprenticeships in Early Years

Training manager, Fay Gibbin, at Busy Bees Early Years Training Academy (www.busybeestraining.co.uk) currently oversees over 1000 childcare, management and catering apprenticeships as well as 20 short courses delivered at each of its 12 venues throughout the country. Here, Fay offers her views on how apprenticeships can make your aspirations of forging a success career in childcare a reality.    

There are fewer career choices more rewarding or challenging, than childcare. Your daily activities revolve around the wellbeing and development of the children in your care, and the part you play in their early years will help improve their outcomes into adulthood.

Childcare was once considered a vocation for those with little or no formal qualifications, however with new regulations, such as the GCSE exit requirements, brought in over the last couple of years and the Government’s drive on apprenticeship recruitment, childcare professionals now have plenty of opportunities for professional development available to them. As detailed in the More Great Childcare report from the Department of Education, a key objective is to raise the status and quality of the workforce, encouraging bright school leavers to enter into the early years sector.

Apprenticeships are particularly beneficial in childcare, not only because they offer hands-on experience alongside theory-based learning, but because the varied environment of nursery settings is very hard to replicate in a classroom. Every child is an individual with varying needs, and there is no better place to learn how to meet these needs than within a nursery, with a supportive mentoring team to guide you. It is testament to this that Busy Bees Early Years Training Academy alone currently supports over 1000 current staff and apprentices in nursery settings across the country.  

The Practicalities of Learning  

Work-based qualifications, such as apprenticeships, are assessed through course work or competency in work based situations rather than exams, appealing to those with more practical than academic ability.

However, many would agree that to gain a well-rounded perspective of any subject; it is best to gain both practical and underpinning knowledge and any good training provider will make sure an apprenticeship programme supports both.

There are varying ways a provider can achieve this. Busy Bees Training have found that offering learners theory-based short-courses alongside apprenticeships helps to put academic learning into context and can be reinforced by the apprenticeship assessor through questioning at the end of observations.

Entry Requirements

Apprenticeships are available to everyone, whether a school leaver about to embark on their first steps, an employee looking for a change or a current childcare professional looking to further their career.

Also, there are GCSE exit requirements in place, no qualifications are needed to gain entry onto a Level 2 apprenticeship programme. This entry level qualification is ideal for school leavers with little or no work-based experience or for those working under supervision such as a nursery assistant or playgroup assistant, giving them the skills and knowledge they need to progress their career.

After achieving a Level 2 childcare apprenticeship, learners can progress onto Level 3, for which you are required to hold a grade C or above in GCSE Maths and English by the end of the apprenticeship. This advanced level apprenticeship is worth considering for those who are currently employed within a childcare setting and wish to advance their personal development and profession.

Apprenticeships can also be a cost-effective route to achieving a person’s career goals. As they are funded by the Skills Funding Agency, Apprenticeships are fully funded for all those under the age of 19. Apprenticeships are part-funded for mature learners, and so they may find some training providers charge a course fee. However, as with other like-minded providers, Busy Bees Early Years Training Academy have found that absorbing the cost and offering the course free of charge is a much more productive way of developing a well-rounded and skilled workforce.

Tailored support and guidance

An apprenticeship programme runs for a minimum of 12 months, but an exact timeframe will be decided after an initial review by the assessor, tailored to a learner’s experience and existing qualifications.

Typically, an apprentice will be assigned a work-placed mentor, who will be shadowing them throughout the apprenticeship programme, giving them support, guidance and constructive feedback along the way. This feedback will shape the programme and will indicate the skills and areas a learner needs to focus on for development. It’s important that an apprentice understands that constructive feedback is not a criticism of their practice. The mentor and training team recognise that they are there to learn and their comments are given to help encourage development and support the learning journey to achieve their potential.

As an Apprentice, they have to be willing to learn and benefit from more experienced practitioners. They will be operating alongside qualified and experienced childcare workers day to day, who will be on hand to provide words of wisdom and encouragement along the way. Apprentices will not be expected to care for children without an experienced practitioner present until they are over 17 and their assessor feels that they are ready to take that next step towards independent practice.

What happens after completion?

An Apprentice’s hard work and dedication will be rewarded with a recognised Children and Young Peoples Workforce qualification, Level 2 or 3. At this point, training providers should provide a wealth of impartial advice and guidance on what the future holds for a qualified practitioner. Many of our Apprentices decide to enter into higher education with support from their nursery’s management team or some stay in their current setting to carry out a higher apprenticeship; it really depends on their career aspirations.

Busy Bees Training take our position as a childcare apprenticeship provider very seriously, and ultimately, we understand that our role is to provide aspiring childcare providers with all the knowledge and experience needed to deliver the best possible provision to the children trusted in their care.