Early years educators, nursery nurses and childminders are highly trained professionals. They play a key role in helping young people learn and develop in a safe environment – from day care centres to schools. If you’ve worked with children before, you know the working day is fun, busy and unpredictable, so training programmes need to be flexible – which is why apprenticeships are so popular.

Early years services have used apprenticeships to recruit, train and retain childcare professionals for years because they’re just that – flexible. With an apprenticeship, staff can learn on the job and gain real-life experience working with children. They can record evidence of their knowledge, skills and behaviours throughout the day and complete assignments during periods of downtime.

Delivering childcare apprenticeships isn’t a walk in the park. Childcare professionals have very demanding days, so you need to plan your curriculum carefully and make sure you have the right systems in place to make sure your apprentices cover all the KSBs in the standard.

The best way to deliver childcare apprenticeships in a flexible, efficient and successful way is using an apprenticeship software like OneFile. With OneFile, apprentices can build a portfolio of evidence against the KSBs in the standard

Train wherever they are

With OneFile, childcare apprentices don’t have to wait until after work to write about what they’ve learned – they can reflect on learning as it happens. They can record evidence at work, complete learning content and link their learning to KSBs in the standard.

Test their knowledge

As apprentices progress, they can use OneFile to test their knowledge. They can complete a gap analysis to find any gaps in learning and complete quizzes to test their knowledge. This is also a great way to prepare apprentices for the multiple-choice knowledge test in the end-point assessment (EPA).

Build a portfolio of evidence

Early years apprentices need to build a portfolio of evidence for their EPA. With OneFile, they can upload photos, videos, audio recordings and documents as evidence – whether they’re leading a learning session or communicating with parents.

Track their progress

With OneFile’s progress dashboards, apprentices can see their percentages increase as they complete work – increasing engagement and motivating learners to do more. Tutors can also monitor progress – either on an individual basis or by cohort – to make sure learners stay on track throughout their programme.

Get the support they need

Apprentices can send messages to their tutors and employers on OneFile. This keeps everyone in the loop and makes it easier for tutors to deliver the personalised support learners need to succeed. Tutors can send messages, add annotations to work or schedule remote reviews.

The new level 3 early years educator apprenticeship standard is approved for delivery. To see how OneFile supports the early educator apprenticeship standard, download your step-by-step guide. It'll walk you through the apprenticeship standard and explain exactly how OneFile supports delivery, KSBs and assessment methods.