With the current recruitment crisis, many nurseries are taking on apprentices with the bid to solve the problem.
Low staff turnover and staff retention is critical to a successful setting, but factors beyond nurseries control are pushing qualified staff away.
Planning your staff training for the future of your setting is crucial…
Evidence suggests that well trained staff can make up for increased children to staff ratios, however, is not an argument to reduce ratios. Well trained staff are more insightful in their duties, more productive and are great at bringing morale up, as they can provide help, support and mentoring to new or inexperienced staff.
Apprenticeships include off the job training. Off the job experience is as important as the qualifications to back it up. 58% of employers value job experience over qualifications. Off the job experiences can include shadowing, team meetings, external meetings with other professionals, in-house training, training with a different age group, research activities and many more. All these activities help to give the apprentice a holistic learning experience.
Off the job experience can give staff the knowledge, skills and behaviours to thrive in a nursery environment. Employers prefer experienced employees because they have skills that graduates may not have.
Good quality training can improve your Ofsted grade, this is because more developed and trained staff will understand Ofsted inspections and will know what they will want. On the other hand, untrained staff won’t have a clear understanding on what to do in an Ofsted inspection. For example, trained staff will be confident in answering any questions Ofsted ask, such as prevent duty, safeguarding, EYFS etc. Check out our WOW Ofsted activities blog here.
Training your staff can future proof your business. Staff are 30-50% more likely to stay for companies with strong learning cultures. Staff will be more compelled to stay if you provide them with the necessary skills to develop themselves and in turn these staff can progress to positions such as Room Leader, Third in Charge, Deputy and Manager.
Parents are one of the most important stakeholders, this is because they decide whether to send their child to your nursery. Trained staff will know what parents are looking for and how best to present it to them, developed staff will also know the answers to parents’ questions so it will be much more reassuring to parents to know that their child is in safe hands.
We recommend enrolling your staff onto our apprenticeships in order to upskill your workforce, increase staff morale and improve the outcomes for children in your care.
Here at MAA, we are shaping the future of Early Years and Montessori one day at a time. We strongly believe in the Montessori method incorporated into the EYFS and are dedicated to supporting our students and settings with the practical, theoretical, and personal skills required to employ the gold standard of care for the future generation.
Our motto is quality apprenticeships which in hand leads to high quality staff for you!
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