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What Qualifications Do You Need To Be A Early Years Practitioner?

Essential Qualifications for Becoming an Early Years Practitioner

Working with children is a rewarding and fun experience, watching them grow and develop, to feel that you have had some input into their lives. Some people start off working as a volunteer in a nursery or childminding setting before choosing to take up a childcare course and become fully qualified. If you are looking for a career working with children, a fully qualified early years practitioner or early years educator, this is much the best thing to achieve your long-term goal.

Most childcare courses run for about two years, and you can study whilst you work at the same time in some cases. Some day nurseries offer you childcare course sponsorship programmes, so you can earn whilst you study. If you choose to attend a college in person or online, you will need to complete a certain number of childcare placement hours as well as coursework.

Useful Links

For more information about childcare courses and how to apply, visit our Career Advice page.

The Government website also has information to check against – Visit the publication – Early Years Qualifications Achieved in England.

Can I work in a Nursery without any Qualifications?

The answer is yes. Many nurseries are happy to have a few volunteers to help, working ad-hoc hours and days where needed. So, if you are studying part-time at college or university, you could be very useful to fill these roles. Some day, nursery settings will take on or use a few unqualified bank staff members to help with staffing over lunchtimes and other times during the day. It will depend upon how many qualified staff they have in ratio, as this is important to maintain.
If you are looking for a long-term career working with children. It’s best to have a qualification to be able to progress and have any leadership roles. Your salary will increase over time as well.

What is level 3 Qualification in Early Years?

This is a nationally recognised childcare qualification which covers newborns and children up until the age of around seven years—all aspects of childcare development, care and learning. You can complete this on a full-time or part-time basis which will take longer to be fully qualified. The courses are a mixture of practical placements, written theory modules, and essay writing. The courses listed below are the most commonly studied.
 
  • Level 3 Diploma in Childcare and Education
  • Level 3 Diploma for the early years Practitioner
  • Level 3 Diploma in Children’s Learning and Development
  • Level 3 Diploma in Montessori Pedagogy – Birth to seven years

Why Study for an Early Years Degree?

You can then progress to studying for an early years degree to become a teacher, counsellor or family support worker.

Studying for a degree course is a long-term commitment. There are many avenues to train, but here are a few: School of Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport. The School offers a ground-breaking curriculum, inspiring and engaging teaching methods, and supports research that looks to influence practices, policies and debate – both nationally and internationally. Normally, this can be done by attending a university online or in person for a further three years full-time or five years part-time

The benefits of studying an early years qualification are:

  • The study will be professionally and vocationally relevant across many contexts.
  • You’ll become better equipped with the knowledge and experience to make a real difference in this field.
  • This will enable you to fit flexible study around your work and other commitments.
  • Essentially, you will broaden your career options as well, making it easier to achieve your goals and increase your salary

What is level 3 Qualification in Early Years?

This is a national recognised childcare qualification which covers newborns and children up until the age of around seven years. All aspects of childcare development, care and learning. You can complete this on a full-time or part-time basis, which will take longer to be fully qualified. The courses are a mixture of practical placements, written theory modules, and essay writing. The courses listed below are the most commonly studied.
 
  • Level 3 Diploma in Childcare and Education
  • Level 3 Diploma for the Early Years Practitioner
  • Level 3 Diploma in Children’s Learning and Development
  • Level 3 Diploma in Montessori Pedagogy – Birth to seven years

Additional Check List of things you will need to have/apply for:

A DBS check – ideally, register to be on the update service for £16 a year, so there should not be the need to keep reapplying for a new one each time.

Valid First Aid certificate – lasts you for 3 years, but this is a must when working in a nursery setting.  Most nurseries will offer you a free one, but there are discounts around if you need to apply for one yourself.

Optional Certificates are useful to add to your portfolio – Food Hygiene and Child Protection Training. Safeguarding

Ready to kickstart Your Career as an Early Years Practitioner?

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