DfE Recruiting Early Years Mentors

Childcare is a challenging sector to work in and perhaps never more so than now as the country recovers from Covid-19. Many children have had more than a year of dramatically reduced human contact, potentially a catastrophic disruption in their early development and childcare providers have a critical role to play in ensuring this does not have a lasting negative impact. Recognising the challenge, the Department for Education is funding a programme of mentorships that will be available to early years settings that need extra support.

Mentorship positions will be open to early years practitioners in England with a level 6 (degree) qualification, three or more years’ experience and who work in a setting with a Good or Outstanding rating. They must also have experience of leadership or supervision of others. Funding is being made available at up to £400 a day for a mentor, rising to £500 for experts providing mores specialist support or £600 for ‘area leads’. This is intended to include travel and subsistence costs, but even so represents a significant income in a traditionally low-pays sector.

The programme will initially be piloted in Lancashire, West Yorkshire and the North of England, but will be rolled out nationally in the 2022-23 academic year. Mentors will work with mentees within early years settings, experts will provide support to setting leaders in three-day chunks, while area leads will look after a group of ten mentors and experts each.

More information, including how to apply can be found on the Foundation Years website: https://foundationyears.org.uk/2021/11/early-years-leadership-support-and-mentoring-expressions-of-interest/