Training Talk - Employing an early years apprentice
Gabriella Jozwiak
Monday, February 5, 2018
An online course helped manager Carol Billingham know what to expect when employing apprentices. By Gabriella Jozwiak
A small team of six nursery staff at Willow Tree Pre-School in Crawley look after up to 38 children a session. But since September 2017, a young apprentice has joined their team.
Manager Carol Billingham had no experience managing apprentices. Last year, a teenager’s mother approached her proposing she employ her daughter under the arrangement. Ms Billingham admits she had apprehensions. ‘Our setting is in a group of four, and one of the other settings did hire an apprentice but had a bad experience,’ she says. She researched the opportunity by completing a Pre-school Learning Alliance online course entitled A Guide to Employing an Early Years Apprentice.
The course, offered in partnership with provider EduCare, took about 40 minutes to complete. Covering one module at level 2, the content includes government policies and funding options, what to consider when employing an apprentice, how to train, assess and support them and what happens once an apprentice completes their programme.
Training is delivered through written information and videos with a multiple-choice questionnaire. A score of 70 per cent or above allows you to download a pass certificate. ‘The course gave me a little bit more of an idea of what was expected of me,’ says Ms Billingham, who also plans for her deputy manager to take the course.
Ms Billingham says doing the course helped her realise she needed to put mentoring in place. ‘It suggests a nominated person should be a mentor,’ she says. ‘I’m going to do that now. I made the assumption other staff could lead her a bit better, but it doesn’t seem to be going that way.’
While Ms Billingham would recommend the training to other nursery managers, she suggests that alone it provides too little preparation for how to manage certain situations that could arise. ‘My apprentice doesn’t enjoy her college work,’ she explains. As a result, Ms Billingham sought extra support and information from Crawley College, where the apprentice is enrolled for the study component of the scheme. ‘I spoke to the college after I’d done the course and they were clear what was expected of me. The course gives a basic outline.’
