Early Years

You can work with children and young people in a range of careers from Early Years Practitioner to Social Services. Early Year's provision has changed significantly over the years. Today effective early learning and childcare experiences are recognised as playing a key role in future life chances and achievement for children and young people.

Social Service workers provide support and help to people who need it, helping them to live full and valued lives in the community. They help make sure children have the best start in life, so they grow up to be happy, healthy and secure.

This course will help you gain the knowledge and understanding you'll need to work successfully in early learning and childcare. It will also develop your knowledge, practical skills and qualities for working with children and young people.

You can choose a Foundation Apprenticeship in Social Services, Children and Young People as one of your school subject choices. The course takes 2 years to complete, starting in S5 and finishing at the end of S6. You will spend part of your week at college and can get involved in stay, play and learn sessions with local early learning and childcare service. In year two you'll go out on work experience so that your occupational competencies can be assessed.

This course lets you find out what a career in Social Services would really be like and if it's right for you.

It includes the National Progression Award (NPA) in Social Services: (Children and Young People) and the Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) Social Services (Children and Young People).

Here is a bit more on what is involved:
The NPA will give you the knowledge you need for the SVQ, along with the practical skills required for delivering early learning and childcare opportunities for children.

Units include:

• Safeguarding Children and Young People
• Play for Children and Young People
• Communication with Children and Young People
• Development of Children and Young People
• Promoting Wellbeing of Children and Young People

You will have the opportunity to undertake 4 units and may have the opportunity to achieve the full SVQ Level 2 Social Services (Children and Young People).

You must complete these units:

• Support Effective Communication
• Support the Health and Safety of Yourself and Individuals
• Develop your own Knowledge and Practice
• Support the Safeguarding of Children
• Work Experience (Arrangements for work placements will be organised by Ayrshire College in year 2 of the course)

You will also gain work-related experiences, such as work placements, work shadowing, industry visits, an industry challenge and training. In Year 2, you will be out on placement for one full day per week usually Thursday. Ideally, this placement will be in an early learning and childcare centre or early primary placement.

For a place on this course, you will need:

• at least five National 5 qualifications including English or Literacy
• to be capable of working at SCQF Level 6 (Higher level), your Guidance Teacher can advise you on this.
• eligible for Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme
• to be able to complete all the necessary hours in a work placement one full day a week in Year 2.

Selection for a place on this course is based on pupils meeting the above requirements and completing a Microsoft Forms task which will be emailed to you; your personal statement and task content will be used to assess your suitability for this course.

Working in a social services setting means you also need to be able to:

• interact and communicate respectfully with children and staff
• work with others
• problem solve

If you are interested in a career in social services, you can use the interactive resource 'A Question of care: a career for you'. Here, you will answer a series of questions and receive a detailed personal profile at the end. A commitment to appropriate values is necessary and you can demonstrate this partly through responses in this resource.

The NPA Units are assessed in college and the SVQ Level 2 units are assessed in the workplace. These assessments are a mixture of written reflective accounts & practical application – you will carry out tasks and your assessor will observe you and say when you have shown that you can do them to the require occupational standard.

You will also keep a reflective log and produce accounts of practice to demonstrate your knowledge of related legislation, policies, theories, professional values and practical skills.

Your SVQ Assessor will visit you regularly to make sure you are doing well and on track with your vocational qualification.

In year one of the course you will immerse yourself in theory, you will develop knowledge and skills which will prepare you for your work placement experience in year 2. You will learn about the importance of your role in promoting the wellbeing and safety of children, safeguarding and explore the developmental theories that underpin early childhood practice. You will plan, evaluate and deliver play experiences for children through a stay and play session and learn how to meet their communication needs.

In year two, you will have the opportunity to put theory into practice as you undertake weekly placement experience in and Early Years Centre supporting children’s learning and development. You will have to reflect on your practice and will be visited by your SVQ assessor who will observe your practice working with the children.

The course is an excellent first step for those wishing to pursue a career in Early Learning and Childcare or Progress to further study in a related field.

Successful completion of this Foundation Apprenticeship includes Scottish Social Services Council registration eligibility for support workers in daycare of children services.

Most jobs in day care of children's services are at the practitioner level and certification for these roles is at SVQ 3, but some employers use SVQ 2 as entry to SVQ 3. Once you have achieved this Foundation Apprenticeship, you will have an industry-recognised qualification and extensive work experience which will help in your future career. It will support your progress whether you plan to study at college on the HNC Childhood Practice or enrol on a Modern Apprenticeship or go straight into work. You will have a solid basis for moving onto a Modern Apprenticeship in Social Services (Children and Young People).

This will qualify you as a support worker and practitioner in a range of services across the sector, such as daycare services or out-of-school care as a nursery assistant or play leader.