The Department for Education (DfE) has released further detail on the new experience-based route for early years staff following a consultation with the sector last spring. A response to the consultation has now been published.
Plans for the qualification, which is optional for providers and aims to recognise the ‘valuable experience and skills’ of practitioners who do not hold full and relevant qualifications, were first announced in May 2023.
The newly published guidance for providers, staff and schools provides more detail on the new experience-based route including the eligibility criteria and requirements.
The DfE aims to introduce the route for providers to use from next month and educators who complete this will be able to count in staff: child ratios at Level 3 after changes have been made to the ratio requirements in the EYFS, expected from September.
It says it is introducing the qualification route to support the recruitment and retention of staff in early years settings. In the future, it intends to develop an assessment-only route to a full and relevant qualification which staff holding the experience-based route status will ‘likely’ need to take in order to continue working in ratios.
Eligibility criteria
According to the new guidance, to be eligible for the experience-based route, staff must:
- Hold either a full and relevant level 2 qualification, or a level 3 or above qualification that is relevant to the care or education of children, but is not full and relevant. Staff may also hold qualifications equivalent to the required level 2 or level 3 qualifications, that have been achieved outside England.
- Have worked with children from birth to five in an early years setting or a related sector in England, for a minimum of a year.
Providers must:
- Have received a good or outstanding judgement for overall effectiveness in their most recent Ofsted inspection. This will be introduced in the interim as Ofsted grading is due to change. For state-funded schools inspected during academic year 2024/25 (who will not receive overall effectiveness judgements), the school must not be judged to require significant improvement or be in special measures. If a PVI provider has not yet been inspected by Ofsted, then it may offer the experience-based route.
- Ensure the person making a decision about a staff member’s experienced-based route status, and those involved in supervising a staff member, must hold a full and relevant qualification at Level 3 or above, and must have been working in an early years setting for a minimum of two years. Originally the DfE proposed six months for the latter, but changed this in response to consultation responses.
Assessment
The guidance states:
- Staff undertaking the experience-based route must complete a minimum of 751 to 900 hours of relevant work and supervised practice before they undergo a final assessment.
- An educator’s experience-based route status will not be automatically transferable between early years providers.
- No more than 50 per cent of staff with experience-based route status will be able to count in the ratios at level 3 at a ‘particular premises’.
- Following the introduction of the experience-based route, the DfE will work with awarding organisations to design an assessment route for educators who have ‘demonstrated they have the skills and experience at Level 3 to gain a full and relevant qualification and continue working in ratios at this level’.
‘It is absolutely vital that the rollout of this policy is monitored closely’.
The Early Years Alliance (EYA) said it hopes the launch of the new experience-based route will ‘encourage many more talented individuals to both join and remain in the sector.’
Its chief executive Neil Leitch explained, ‘We know there are countless dedicated, skilled and experienced educators working in the sector who, despite being excellent at their jobs, are unable to progress due to a lack of formal qualifications. As such, at a time when the early years staffing crisis remains so severe, we hope the launch of the new experience-based route will encourage many more talented individuals to both join and remain in the early years.
‘That said, we’re clear that working as an early educator is, and should be seen as a highly-skilled profession. It is absolutely vital, therefore, 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.
‘What’s more, while this new route to counting in ratios is likely to offer some welcome respite to providers struggling in the face of the ongoing staffing crisis, this change can only ever be one small part of a much wider recruitment and retention strategy.’
