.
Apprenticeships are the lifeblood of early education, and the Early Years Educator Level 3 is the most popular apprenticeship in the UK. The Government’s announcement will open doors to many individuals who may have previously been ‘put off’ by the maths and English requirements and is likely to play a significant role in addressing ongoing recruitment challenges within the nursery sector.
As my colleague Michelle Phoenix, head of quality and curriculum at CT Skills, recently stated in Nursery World, “Removing functional skills will support some learners in the sector who have simply chosen not to complete an early years apprenticeship due to the maths and English requirements. Removing the pressure will encourage more learners into the sector and support the skills gap in early years. We just need to be careful that we don't end up with no-one progressing to manager level.”
At CT Skills we value the importance of functional skills, and we will still be an advocate for them and promote completing them where it's the right decision. If they want to move to managerial level, then completing functional skills will be essential. Many of the nurseries we work with also share this view.
While a solid foundation in literacy and numeracy is important, the previous rule prevented passionate and dedicated people from entering or returning to the sector. The removal of this requirement is a welcome shift that will help to strengthen the workforce and improve outcomes for children.
Another major benefit of this change is the potential for experienced workers to return to the early years workforce. Over the years, many skilled and caring nursery practitioners have left the profession due to the functional skills roadblock. With this barrier removed, we could see a wave of experienced individuals re-entering the sector, bringing with them valuable knowledge and expertise.
Functional Skills for Early Years
The Government is rightly focussing on early years and regularly stating how critical the sector is both for children and supporting working families. Given the popularity of early years apprenticeships, I believe we should give the same focus to skills within the sector and develop a functional skills requirement that is unique to the industry.
I would like to go further and work with the Government and the early years sector to develop a Functional Skills standard that is bespoke to early years.
The current maths requirements are broad and designed to be applicable across sectors. In working with our clients in early years, many think they can be made more appropriate to a career in early years. We want people working in the sector to have skills in Maths and English that are suited to the role, so developing a bespoke Early Years Functional Skills standard should be something we consider.
We now have a real opportunity to welcome more apprentices into the sector, whether they are young people starting their careers or experienced workers looking to return. The early years sector is built on a foundation of passion, care, and dedication. Creating a Functional Skills requirement that ensures we are harnessing people with those qualities whilst supporting them to develop maths and English so they can be the best practitioners should be something we consider.
Would financial incentives encourage more young people into early years?
The Department for Education are rightly concerned about the reduction in young people starting apprenticeships. The number of 16 to 24 years olds starting apprenticeships has reduced by 40 per cent in the past four years. Early Years apprenticeships are bucking the trend slightly but there remains a concern that these changes don’t go far enough to get both young people and early years settings excited about apprenticeships again.
April will see nurseries hit with two big payroll challenges: the increase in National Minimum Wage and the increase in National Insurance Contributions. Luckily, employers do not pay National Insurance Contributions on apprentices but there is a suggestion from the government that a financial incentive could be introduced to encourage employers to recruit young apprentices as part of the new “Youth Guarantee” that aims reduce the number of NEETs in the country.
Currently one in eight 16 to 24 year old are not in education, employment or training. It’s clear that more needs to be done to encourage these young people into apprenticeships as well as getting nurseries engaged with apprenticeships again. Removing the barrier of functional skills is a step in the right direction but more needs to be done, and quickly, to make apprenticeships the backbone of the early years workforce once again.
