
The Department of Education has released some new flexibilities within the Early Years sector to support the ongoing recruitment crisis for staff trained to Level 3. They have introduced a new ‘Experience-based’ route- Experience-based route for early years practitioners: response
This route will allow managers at providers with a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ OFSTED rating to offer this route to their staff where they have not yet received their level 2 or level 3 full and relevant qualifications to support with staff:child ratios.
The manager who will be making this decision is required to have the full and relevant Level 3 Early Years qualification and must have 2 year experience working in Early Years. It must be noted that as long as these requirements are met the manager does not have to be the assessor and can nominate another team member to complete this as long as they meet the requirements
If a provider would like to go down the ‘experience-based’ route then they are required to complete an initial assessment where they assess the learner's skills, knowledge and experience against the Level 3 Early Years Educator criteria. It then needs to be reassessed at the end of their supervised practice.
This change will allow some opportunities to fill gaps within the sector, but it could also be an opportunity to reconsider the training available. As the Level 3 Early Years qualifications no longer become mandatory, it should still be considered as a development opportunity within the sector for staff and learners. Especially when there are still requirements for the Level 3 qualification at the management level if you have learners wanting to use the ‘experience-based’ route.
With the Level 3 Early Year Educator Apprenticeship and Level 2 and Level 3 Technical qualifications currently receiving funding, it’s vital we make use of these qualifications for staff and learners already within the sector. If we want to recruit individuals with the right skills and knowledge into the Early Years Sector, then these routes and qualifications are going to be the best way to do this. The work evidenced using the ‘experience-based’ learner route can be used as recognition of prior learning to units within the qualification due to learners having already been assessed through the Level 3 Early Educator criteria. It reduces the time required on programme allowing them to achieve the qualification in a shorter period. How I see it is, if you’ve already done the work why shouldn’t you get the qualification to recognise this?
We have developed our Level 3 Diploma in Early Years Educator and coming soon we will have the Level 3 Apprenticeship available too!
Thanks for reading!
Teri Greaves
Business Development Manager at Open Awards