Early years lead practitioner
Education and early years
Level 5 -
Working directly with children, skilfully leading day to day practice.
Reference: OCC0551
Status:
SOC 2020 sub unit groups:
- 2324/00 Early education and childcare services managers
Technical Education Products
Employers involved in creating the standard:
Little Explorers Playgroup, Our Monkey Club, Kids Planet Day Nurseries, Places for Children Ltd, Wolds Childcare Ltd, Market Harborough Montessori Nursery
Summary
This occupation is found in a range of educational settings which can include day nurseries, playgroups, nursery schools, pre-schools, kindergartens, primary schools, hospitals, social care educational settings, out of school environments and local authority provision. The broad purpose of the occupation is to be a proactive and influential practitioner, working directly with children, skilfully leading day to day practice at an operational level. As active practitioners they are effective role models of play based learning, supporting others to develop their own practice. They are highly skilled professionals who take an operational lead for the care, learning and development of all young children within their care, adapting to individual needs providing inclusive and holistic provision. They engage with sector developments both locally and nationally, with a commitment to developing their own professional and educational competencies. In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with children aged birth to eight years, families, practitioners, other professionals and appropriate agencies. An employee in this occupation will be responsible for supporting the quality of learning and development in their educational setting. They lead on the operational aspects of this provision and are typically responsible for leading other practitioners, an aspect or environment such as; Communication and Language, Planning and Assessment, Forest School, Physical Activity and Nutrition. They usually report directly to the head of the educational setting (The Manager, The Leader, The Director).
Typical job titles:
Room leader, Deputy manager, Assistant manager, Senior practitioner, Lead practitioner, Pre-school leader, Early years coordinator
Early years practitioner, Nursery officer, Early years officer, Key worker, Senior key worker, Baby room leader, Lead baby room practitioner, Play leader
Early years support worker, Higher level teaching and learning assistant, Early years foundation Stage lead or coordinator
Pastoral care manager, Pastoral assistant, Education welfare officer
Specialist practitioner in child development (health), Community nursery nurse, Health play specialist, Hospital play worker.
Employers involved in creating the standard:
Little Explorers Playgroup, Our Monkey Club, Kids Planet Day Nurseries, Places for Children Ltd, Wolds Childcare Ltd, Market Harborough Montessori Nursery
Typical job titles include:
Keywords:
Knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs)
Duties
Duty D1
Promote the health and well-being of all children, self-regulation and resilience through learning rich environments, opportunities for challenging play and a healthy attitude towards risk taking.
Duty D2
Provide playful, sensitive interaction opportunities that reflect children's needs, interests and motivations in order to facilitate and extend deep level learning.
Duty D3
Participate in and lead daily routines and practice, including children's personal care, play and maintaining the physical environment.
Duty D4
To be an effective key person and advocate for the child, supporting the child’s developmental, emotional and daily needs within a secure and caring relationship. To ensure the effectiveness of the key person approach across the aspect or environment for which they are responsible.
Duty D5
To take the lead and provide support in disseminating best practice in the use of observation, assessments and planning to meet children's needs and extend their holistic development within the aspect or environment for which they are responsible.
Duty D6
Promote, demonstrate and facilitate a clear understanding of diversity and equality to support all children, including those with additional needs, those of high ability, those with English as an additional language and those with disabilities. To be able to use and evaluate distinctive approaches which engage and support inclusivity of all children within their social and cultural context.
Duty D7
Ensure full compliance with all safeguarding legislation, policies and strategies at a national, local and setting based level. Promote, implement and embed respectfully within practice, providing appropriate support to colleagues as, or supporting, the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Duty D8
Demonstrate leaderful practice through the effective deployment of resources and practitioners keeping the child’s voice and needs central to practice.
Duty D9
Reflect and build on practice through ongoing professional enquiry and action research to contribute to the pedagogical approach of their educational setting. To be accountable for day to day practice, longer term planning, management and training within the specific aspect or environment for which they are responsible.
Duty D10
Establish engaging, inclusive and collaborative relationships and participate in multiagency meetings. Enable and facilitate practitioners to develop professional relationships with parents, carers and multi-agencies to meet the individual needs of the children.
Duty D11
Lead as a reflective practitioner, committing to enhancing skills and knowledge to improve pedagogical practice. Guide and support the development of the reflective practice of others.
Duty D12
Initiate continuing professional development opportunities in response to identification of strengths and weaknesses both personally and within your team. Provide constructive feedback on points of practice on an informal day to day basis and contribute to formal performance management as necessary.
Duty D13
Ensure compliance with all Health and Safety legislation, policies and strategies at a national, local and setting based level.
Duty D14
Maintain effective administrative systems including development records, assessment, report writing and record keeping, such as risk assessments and safeguarding concerns.
Duty D15
Work in collaborative partnership with parents and carers in the planning, implementation and review of strategies in place to support children's experience, holistic development, learning and progress.
Duty D16
To lead and manage across the area, aspect or environment for which they are responsible for.
Occupational Progression
This occupational progression map shows technical occupations that have transferable knowledge and skills.
In this map, the focused occupation is highlighted in yellow. The arrows indicate where transferable knowledge and skills exist between two occupations. This map shows some of the strongest progression links between the focused occupation and other occupations.
It is anticipated that individuals would be required to undertake further learning or training to progress to and from occupations. To find out more about an occupation featured in the progression map, including the learning options available, click the occupation.
Progression decisions have been reached by comparing the knowledge and skills statements between occupational standards, combined with individualised learner movement data.
Education and early years