Free Level 3 childcare courses from April welcomed by nurseries

Free Level 3 childcare qualifications have been included among the 400 new Lifetime Skills Guarantee courses announced by the government from April 2021.

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The government has announced that new Lifetime Skills Guarantee courses will 'help our country build back better after the pandemic' and 'the qualifications in this offer have been carefully chosen to help adults improve their career prospects and meet the needs of the economy’.

The fully-funded courses range from childcare to engineering and will be available to adults without a full qualification at Level 3 (A-level equivalent) from April 2021 to help them secure a job.

The offer is funded by £95 million from the £2.5 billion National Skills Fund, which is financing programmes that support the immediate economic recovery and help meet future skills needs.

PM: ‘I am determined’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “Despite all our efforts, coronavirus is damaging the economy and putting people out of work.

“But I am determined to help everyone who has lost their job to retrain, develop new skills and find new opportunities.

“The Lifetime Skills Guarantee will give thousands of adults across the country the chance to do exactly that – as we build back better after the pandemic.”

The courses offered will be reviewed regularly and ‘updated as the economy changes’, the government said.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “Our new Lifetime Skills Guarantee promises to help you get the skills you need at every stage of your life. I’d urge all those eligible to see what course they can take from spring next year and start thinking about their next steps.”

Saves students and bosses 'thousands of pounds in fees'

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), which represents nurseries, called the announcement "very positive news for childcare providers across the country and for young adults wanting to develop their careers in early years education".

She added: “This could save students and employers thousands of pounds in fees so could remove a major barrier to starting the Early Years Educator course in the first place.

“We know from our own early years workforce research that the numbers of Level 3 qualified practitioners has dropped alarmingly in the last few years.

“Employers will welcome this news as they will be able to develop their practitioners aged 24 and over who would not have been eligible for funding previously. This training will provide reward and recognition for these members of staff who might not have received it due to employers’ limited budgets.

“We hope this will spur on many practitioners already working with young children who are qualified to Level 2 or below to progress their own careers and sign up for a course from April.”

Chief executive of the Association of Colleges, David Hughes said colleges are "eager" to start planning ahead of the courses delivery in the spring of 2021.

David Hughes said: “I’m pleased to see progress in the roll-out of the new Level 3 entitlement as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee.

“The qualifications will help people to get the skills they need in the labour market emerging from the pandemic so it is great to see that essential services like child and social care have been included alongside engineering, agriculture, construction and many others."

Alongside the new Level 3 offer, the Lifetime Skill Guarantee will also include a Lifelong Loan Entitlement which will allow adults and young people to space out their study across their lifetimes and take high-quality courses in both further education colleges and universities.

Liz Bayram, chief executive at PACEY said: “The inclusion of early years and childcare courses in this offer is important, as it will help providers upskill their existing staff and help address the long standing recruitment challenges in the sector.

"Whilst we of course welcome this investment and would encourage more people to consider a career in the early years, the Department for Education needs to do much more to support early years and childcare providers to remain sustainable services.

Liz Bayram added the government must provide funding that covers the full cost of delivering a childcare place and works with the sector to "establish a long term strategy" that support families because "without it, people in the sector will continue to be low paid, under-valued and turnover of staff will remain a challenge”.

daynurseries.co.uk lists a whole range of jobs in the childcare sector. Click here to view them.