Early Years Educator

About the Course

This two-year course prepares learners to become Early Years Educators, enabling them to work with children from birth to 5 years and gain knowledge of children aged 5-7 years.  This qualification confers the licence to practise as an Early Years Educator.

The qualification covers four areas:

• Health and wellbeing
• Legislation, frameworks and professional practice
• Play, development and learning for school readiness
• Professional development

You should expect to complete a minimum of 3 hours of homework per week in addition to class attendance.

Entry requirements

Students must be working in an Early Years setting and be 19 years of age or over.  It may be possible to complete this course in voluntary placement.

Students should have a good standard of English and Maths. Whilst not a requirement for this course, please note that Early Years Educators are required to have Level 2 English and Maths qualifications to count in setting ratios. If you do not already have these qualifications, you can apply to study them with us.

Assessment

Assessment is via written work and practical observations. Work is submitted and assessed via an electronic portfolio, which demonstrates how you have met the assessment criteria for the course.

You should expect to complete at least 3 hours of homework per week in addition to class attendance.

Delivery

This course is delivered through a mixture of lessons in college, live remote lessons and workplace visits.  Learners should expect to attend a college induction and half-termly sessions on site. The remaining lessons will be via virtual classrooms using technology such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom. It is recommended that you have access to a PC, laptop or other suitable device.

We provide a textbook for this course and it is included in the course fee.

Learners also benefit from access to the college library during our evening opening times, including computers, study stations, print-based and electronic learning materials, printers and scanners.

Progression

Level 4 Certificate for the Early Years Advanced Practitioner or a Foundation Degree.

Practitioner in day nurseries/nursery schools, reception classes in Primary school/ pre-school worker.

How to apply

If you wish to apply, please call or email us if you have any questions on 01403 216597 or adulted@collyers.ac.uk.

Induction

Students must attend a college induction on the first evening of the course.

Fees

For this course, students may self-fund the course fees, apply for an Advanced Learner Loan or be eligible for full funding under the Government’s Free Level 3 Courses for Jobs offer.

A £50 non-refundable deposit is payable at the point of booking with the balance due one week before the course start date. Students can apply upon booking to pay the balance in three instalments during the first year of the course.

Advanced Learner Loans are available for this course. These loans are repayable when you finish your course and earn more than £27,295 per annum.

This course may be free to learners if they:

• Are unemployed
• Earn less than £18,535 gross annual salary
• Do not have a full level 3 qualification

For further details see our Fees and Funding page.