Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner
Level 5 is beneficial for those who are currently working as senior practitioners, deputies and managers of childcare settings. This course is ideal if you want develop and enhance your practical leadership, management knowledge and skills.
*Government funding available. Complete the form to see if you qualify.
How will the course impact my future?
You will be equipped with a further improved set of early years practitioner skills and your sector knowledge will have grown. You will have completed another nationally recognised qualification, enhancing your CV and helping improve your career even further.
Is this course for me?
If you are currently in a senior role, reporting directly to the head of the setting and responsible for supporting the quality of learning and development, and also lead on the operational aspects of the setting, then this course will be ideal for you.
You will be a proactive practitioner, working directly with children, and skilfully leading the day-to-day practice at an operational level. You will also be an effective role model of play-based learning, and actively encourage your team to develop their own skills and qualifications.
The apprenticeship standard of this qualification has been developed to cover the Department for Education criteria for level 3 Early Years qualifications (Early Years Educator).
About The Course
How do I achieve the qualification?
The course is made up of 16 mandatory ‘operational duties’ – all of which much be achieved to pass this course. You will find details of the duties below.
During the course, you will learn how to develop high quality childcare environments that are continuously evaluated. You will lead on the operational aspects of your setting and will be responsible for leading other practitioners on aspects and environments such as Communication and Language, Planning and Assessment, Forest School, Physical Activity and Nutrition.
Do I need to attend classes?
Great news – there are no physical classes to attend at a college, but you will be required to attend master classes using the virtual classroom access we provide, plus face-to-face teaching and learning sessions, when applicable.
You will have regular contact with your Parenta tutor either remotely or face to face to observe you at work and check you’re fulfilling the course requirements. Your tutor will set you course work to complete on OneFile our e-learning platform and will agree submission timings with you. It is important that you meet your submission deadlines to ensure you complete your qualification on time.
How long will the course take me to complete?
As you will have discovered in your previous apprenticeships and as with anything worthwhile, this course will require you to dedicate some of your own time to it. This will be up to 29 months in total, if you are working full time, but afterwards you will have the fantastic feeling of being a professionally recognised Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner and an accomplished senior member of the team.
You will be assigned your own tutor to support you throughout your qualification, however you will be required to do some independent learning.
You should set aside around 10 hours a week to work towards your qualification. You may prefer to split this time up into a few evenings a week and some time at the weekend, but it’s entirely up to you.
The course is made up of 2 parts, as follows:
Main part of the course (on-program) – 24 months.
The occupational duties are based around your skills, knowledge and behaviours which you develop throughout your apprenticeship.
Complete Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner, English and maths Functional Skills (Level 2).
Part 2 is in 2 sections (End Point Assessment) – duration 5 months.
Preparation for your End Point Assessment (this is called Gateway).
We will upload your Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner qualification, as well as your Level 3 Childcare (EYE) qualification if not already done so, on to the Gateway portal.
You will be required to upload some evidence of your work from your online portfolio.
End Point Assessment (EPA) consisting of 3 assessments – an observation with questions; a professional discussion underpinned by a portfolio of evidence; and a case study with report and presentation and questioning.
As part of your Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner course, you’ll benefit from phone and email support from your Parenta tutor if there’s anything at all that you need help with.
How will I be assessed?
As with your previous apprenticeships, you will be assessed through a mixture of ‘at home’ and ‘at work’ tasks which you must provide evidence for on your online portfolio. Before this happens, your tutor will talk to you to find out what learning style suits you best and tailor your assessments around it.
At home:
- Writing from personal experience
- Assignments asking you to describe/explain
something - Reflections on how you dealt with past events
At work:
- Observations of your work practice by your tutor
- Professional discussions with your tutor (these can also be done at home over the phone)
Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner
Course Booklet
For more information about the Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner, have a look through our brochure.