Many childcare settings employ apprentices. It’s a tried-and-tested way to ensure you have highly trained staff in your setting with real-life experience of working with children.

However, completing a childcare apprenticeship is no walk in the park. Apprentices have to work and train at the same time – it requires dedication, hard work and support from their employer and training provider. With the right support and learning tools, your childcare apprentices will be the dedicated, long-term employees you need – helping you maintain continuity of care for the children at your setting. But without it, they could drop out, or complete their programme and move on – which is not ideal.

Here are 5 ways you can help your apprentice succeed:

Tell parents about your apprentice

When you let parents know you’ve got a new apprentice, they can be surprisingly supportive. Reassure them that your apprentice will be supervised at all times and they’re here to learn the best way to help their children develop. Most childcare apprenticeships have some criteria in the standard around interacting with parents, so building a connection will help their progression and advantage the children.

Give regular feedback

Everyone appreciates support when they’re learning something new, so make sure you provide regular feedback to your apprentice. Schedule regular meetings to find out how they’re doing and use this time to feedback on how they’re progressing. If your training provider uses an apprenticeship software, you can send messages and add feedback to their work. You can also schedule online meetings with their tutor to make sure all bases are covered.

Make evidencing easy

Working and training at the same time isn’t easy – especially if apprentices have to write up notes at the end of their busy day. With an apprenticeship software like OneFile, apprentices can use the setting’s device to upload photos, videos, audio recordings and documents as evidence throughout the working day. It means apprentices can capture evidence and make reflections as learning happens – saving time, increasing engagement and improving the authenticity of evidence.

Track progress throughout the programme and beyond!

Tracking progression is key to your apprentice’s success. When people can see their progress increasing as they complete work, it motivates them to keep going in the right direction! With OneFile, apprentices can track their progression on live dashboards and see exactly how each assignment impacts their overall progress. They can also rate their learning throughout the programme and see their scores increase as they progress.

Employers and tutors can monitor progression using dashboards and reports too – everyone has full visibility. This gives tutors the insight they need to support apprentices appropriately – provide extra support if learners fall behind, or set stretch-and-challenge activities to high performers.

To find out all the ways OneFile helps apprentices succeed, download this step-by-step guide. It’ll walk you through the new early years apprenticeship standard and explain exactly how OneFile supports apprentices throughout the programme.