Urgent campaign launched to attract young people to work in nurseries as demand soars
ITV News correspondent James Webster reports on the apprentice scheme hoping to recruit 40,000 new childcare workers.
An urgent campaign has been launched to get more young people training to work in nurseries.
Extra staff are needed after the government announced an increase in funded nursery places for parents who want to get back to work.
From the start of September funded childcare has been extended from working parents of two-year-olds to those whose children are just nine-months-old, creating a need for 40,000 new childcare workers by September 2025.
But research shows many young people in the North West do not know one of the routes into the sector.
In Manchester, 75% of 15-19 year olds had not heard of the Early Years Educator Apprenticeship, which allows people to train on the job rather than go to college.
As a result the Department for Education has started a new campaign following the summer exam results season to promote it.
Keira Denton, from Sale, started her apprenticeship when she was 16.
She says the on the job training was much more appealing than a college course.
"In school I was quite anxious so college kind of reminded me of feeling that way so I didn't want to go down that route again," she said.
"I looked into apprenticeships and it said you get paid while doing the job, and you get time out to do all the studying and I just thought it's perfect."
"I work in the toddler room. They're hilarious," she added. "Honestly, at this age they're so funny. Listening to their little chuckles.
"It brings me so much joy."
Kids Planet, based in Lymm, in Cheshire has as been offering apprenticeships at its nurseries for six years. Clare Roberts has grown the business from just two nurseries.
Spreading from the North West across England and Wales. She says her apprentices are a valuable part of the workforce.
She said: "I think what we used to find a number of years ago is that colleagues came to us with a formal qualification but they actually then needed to learn the practicality of what working in an early years setting was.
"What we found this way is it actually helps us nurture, develop, mentor those colleagues.
"So they're actually getting the practical experience on the job at the same time as getting the formal qualification that recognises the work that they've done."
Keira hopes one day she is the one running a network of nurseries. A sector which will grow significantly in the next 12 months and needs more people like Keira to work within it.
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