Apprenticeships

You can begin your career with the Alliance via one of our fully-accredited early years apprenticeship programmes.

The programmes ensure you’ll gain the required knowledge and skills to meet the Early Years Educator standards while giving you firsthand experience of working with children within our early years settings.

On average, 55 apprentices undertake their training with the Alliance every year.

This includes new employees who join the Alliance via the apprenticeship programme, as well as current employees who are looking to upskill and further their early years careers by learning new knowledge and skills together with obtaining a new qualification. Find out more about our apprenticeships.

Early years educators

We offer many attractive, flexible roles in our settings – from early years assistants to lead early years educators and early years managers.

If you’re starting as an apprentice or assistant, there are plenty of opportunities to gain further learning, experience and qualifications, giving you the chance to pursue higher roles if you want to, such as lead educator or assistant manager.

We also have unqualified early years assistant roles and we will encourage and support you to become qualified.

In addition, there will be plenty of training opportunities for you to learn more about areas such as nutrition, food hygiene, safeguarding and SEND.

Job shares are always considered.

Early years qualifications

Through the Alliance, learners can achieve their NCFE CACHE Level 2 Diploma for the Early Years Practitioner and/or NCFE CACHE Level 3 Diploma for the Early Years Workforce (Early Years Educator), both of which are accepted and recognised by the Department for Education for staff/child ratios.

A total of 112 students earned their Early Years Practitioner and Early Years Educator qualifications with us in 2021-22.

Find out more about our qualifications.

Early years tutors

We employ a range of professionals in different areas of our work. Tutors help us to deliver our training and quality improvement programs to our early years students and to staff in our settings every year.

If you have expertise or experience tutoring adult education classes with relevant qualifications, we would particularly be keen to hear from you.

Voluntary opportunities

The Alliance was established by volunteers in 1961 and the importance of volunteers remains at the heart of our work.

Every volunteer at the Alliance offers a unique set of talents, skills and experience which make an enormous difference to the support and care we offer young children and families.

No matter how great or small the contribution, volunteering offers everyone many rewards and benefits. As a volunteer you will receive lots of opportunities to learn new skills, meet new people, support the work of the Alliance and majority find a new career opportunity.

To find out more about volunteering with us, contact [email protected] (to volunteer at one of our business hubs) or [email protected] (to volunteer at one of our settings).

Career pathways

Children’s Services

Early Years Assistant (unqualified) / Apprentice

Early Years Educator

Lead Early Years Educator

Assistant Early Years Manager

Early Years Manager

Children’s Services Manager

Children’s Services Director

Business Development

Early Years Development Officer

Business Manager

Business Development Director

Business Development

Early Years Educator

Senior Early Years Educator

Team Leader

Operations Manager

Skills and qualifications within Children’s Services and Business Development are interchangable e.g early years educators to managers will have the experience and qualifications for an early years development officer role (a recognised adult teaching qualification is required).

People have joined the Alliance as a tutor / assessor and then become an early years development officer.

There are other career paths across the different departments. 

If you have a particular interest or are looking for a certain role, please email us at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.

Training opportunities at the Early Years Alliance

The Alliance is a registered learning provider and offers a wide range of vocational qualifications and professional development programmes to support early years educators at every stage of their career.

We pride ourselves on investing in our people and provide various learning and development opportunities across the organisation to ensure our staff are skilled, nurtured and fulfilled.

Professional development

We offer a range of non-accredited professional development online sessions and workshops called Virtual Classrooms, Connects, Spotlights and Insights.

We also work in partnership with online training platform EduCare which offers training courses to Alliance members for free as part of their membership or available to purchase to non-members.