Early Years Educator qualifications and training courses

Last Updated: 02 Nov 2026

Product code 9062

Early Years Educators play a vital role in supporting the learning, development and wellbeing of young children. The Early Years Educator Apprenticeship equips learners with the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to deliver high-quality early education and care in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. The apprenticeship focuses on supporting children from birth until the end of the EYFS, whilst also developing an understanding of children's transition into Key Stage 1, and includes children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Through workplace learning, apprentices develop the competence to support children's progress, safeguard and promote their welfare, work in partnership with parents and carers, and use child-centred approaches to help children build strong foundations for lifelong learning and future success.

Aligned to the ST0135 occupational standard, the apprenticeship equips learners with the practical knowledge, skills and behaviours required to work effectively within early years settings. Through real workplace experience, apprentices gain essential skills to support children's progress across the EYFS prime and specific areas of learning, use observation and assessment to understand and plan for children's development, ensure children are safe and nurtured, contribute to high-quality provision of enabling and inclusive environments, both indoor and outdoor, and support settings in delivering positive outcomes for children and families.

Key facts

Level 3
ST0135
9062-11 Level 3 Early Years Educator Apprenticeship
Typical duration: 18 months
Grades: Fail, Pass, Distinction

Assessment methods:

Observation with questions (externally assessed)
Professional Discussion underpinned by a portfolio (internally Assessed and externally quality assured)

General information

9062-11 Level 3 Early Years Educator

Who is this apprenticeship aimed at?

This apprenticeship is suitable for individuals working in a range of maintained and private, voluntary, and independent settings such as full-day care, children's centres, pre-schools, reception classes, playgroups, nursery schools, home based provision, hospitals, social care settings, out of school environments, and local authority provision. Apprentices may be in a leadership role or under supervision from a manager.

It is suitable for an individual working as:

Early Years Educator
Nursery Educator
Early Years worker
Nursery Nurse
Childminder
Childminder assistant
Nursery worker

The apprenticeship is designed to ensure the development of essential skills that underpin evidence based and the approaches essential for collaborative and inclusive work with children, parents, carers, colleagues and wider multi-agency professionals.

What will apprentices learn?

Designed around the ST0135 occupational standard, the apprenticeship develops the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to perform effectively as Early Years Educator providing inclusive and enabling opportunities and learning experiences to children from birth to age five.

Apprentices learn how to:

Support children’s learning, development, and progress.
Build positive relationships with children and families.
Promote children’s health, wellbeing, and emotional security.
Work with parents and professionals to support children.
Create inclusive environments that encourage learning through play.
Safeguard children and maintain health and safety standards.
Keep accurate records and use technology appropriately.
Improve practice through reflection, learning, and change.

Throughout the apprenticeship, learners gain practical experience in supporting children’s learning and development, providing safe and nurturing care, working with families and professionals, promoting inclusive play-based learning, and applying safeguarding, health and safety, and reflective practice in an early years setting

What career can this lead to?

The Early years Educator apprenticeship supports progression into a wide range of early years education, childcare, child development and family support roles. Successful apprentices may progress into senior practitioner positions before advancing into leadership, management or specialist roles within the early years sector. The apprenticeship's broad skills in child development, education, care, safeguarding and partnership working make apprentices highly valued across a range of early years, education, health and community settings.

Typical progression opportunities include:

Senior Early Years Practitioner
Room Leader
Early Years Coordinator
Deputy or Assistant Manager
Teaching and Learning Support Roles
Family and Pastoral Support Roles
Child Development and Health Support Roles
Specialist Play and Inclusion Roles

The apprenticeship can also provide progression routes into higher-level early years, education, leadership and management apprenticeships and qualifications, as well as specialist training in areas such as SEND, pastoral support and child development.

Assessment

How will apprentices demonstrate occupational competence?

City & Guilds’ assessment approach is based on real workplace practice, enabling apprentices to demonstrate the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to work effectively as an Early Years Educator. Assessment focuses on authentic evidence generated through everyday early years education and care activities.

The combination of an assessor Observation with Questions and a Professional Discussion underpinned by a portfolio allows apprentices to demonstrate both their practical competence and professional understanding.

The observation assesses performance in the workplace, while the portfolio and Professional Discussion provide opportunities to explore experience, decision-making and professional practice.

Together, these assessment methods provide a holistic assessment of occupational competence, enabling apprentices to demonstrate their ability to support children’s learning, development, wellbeing and safety in real workplace contexts.

Apprentices will achieve one of the following grades:

Fail
Pass
Distinction

Successful apprentices will be eligible for the apprenticeship certificate issued through the relevant apprenticeship certification process.

How to register

Approval to deliver

To deliver this apprenticeship assessment, organisations must be an approved City & Guilds centre. If you are not approved as a City & Guilds centre, you can:

Apply to become a centre

If you are already approved as a City & Guilds centre, you can:

Apply for approval through the Quality Portal in Walled Garden by completing a Qualification Approval (QAP) form.

Request a call back from a member of our team to discuss your needs

Registration of apprentices

Registration of apprentices takes place in Proficient, our online administration platform. Once approval has been approved by our Centre Quality team then you will be able to submit Apprentice registrations in Proficient.

Support and resources:

Centres can access a range of support and resources designed to help deliver and assess the apprenticeship successfully, including:

Apprenticeship assessment handbook: Including assessment details, timelines, task specifications and grade weightings..
Team support: Quality assurance, and ongoing customer and technical support.

This helps providers deliver high-quality apprenticeship assessment confidently and consistently. Our specialist teams work closely with providers to support implementation, share best practice and help ensure a positive experience for apprentices and employers.

Here you can find all documents related to this suite of apprenticeship.

By clicking on the section headings below, you can access a variety of documents such as the qualification handbooks and assessment materials, Statements of Purpose, and recognition letters from industry and employers.

Some documents may be password protected. Passwords can be retrieved by logging in to WalledGarden.com and visiting the Administration section of the relevant qualification catalogue page.