Call for more nursery teachers in Plymouth

A fresh call has been launched in Plymouth to get high quality candidates to train as nursery teachers – and help further improve early education of young children.

Across the South West more than four out of five nurseries and other early years providers (87 per cent) are rated as good or outstanding, up 16 per cent on 2010.

Tax-free bursaries of up to £9,000 plus training fees of £7,000 are being made available to get graduates working with young children. Graduates already employed in nurseries are also encouraged to train, their fees will be paid plus their employers will receive funding to support them while they are training. 

Across the South West, six training providers - including University of Plymouth – offer early years teacher training.

For graduates, the training course is usually a year in length – and can be part-time or full-time depending on the route taken. There is also a full time three to four year undergraduate route.

The Get into Teaching campaign led by the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) is calling for more early years teachers in Plymouth.

Charlie Taylor, Chief Executive of NCTL, said:
“We know that the quality of early education is higher when practice is led by an early years teacher. In order to ensure we continue to give the very youngest children in our communities the best start in life and continue to develop the workforce, we need more excellent early years teachers joining the profession.

“I would encourage anyone interested in becoming an early years teacher to find out more about early years teacher training and the support available, including the tax-free bursaries.”
Find out more about becoming an early years teacher, visit: www.getintoteaching.education.gov.uk or contact the Teaching Line on: 0800 389 2500. Applications close on September 30.