Experienced practitioners are hard to find, so most settings now grow their own: apprentices, students on placement and career-changers who learn the job in your rooms. Whether they flourish or drift away depends more than anything on the person working next to them each day. This early years mentor training shows experienced practitioners how to induct, teach and support new starters so they learn quickly, feel looked after and stay.
Why mentoring matters in early years
Apprentices rarely leave because the work is too hard. They leave because they feel lost, unsupported or treated as a spare pair of hands. A good mentor is the single biggest factor in whether an apprentice finishes their qualification and stays with the setting. It matters for children too: they experience whatever your least experienced practitioner does in the moment, and a mentored new starter picks up good habits quickly.
Mentoring also comes with real responsibilities. An apprentice is employed to learn, so early on they should be supernumerary rather than counted in your ratios. Off-the-job training time is a required part of every apprenticeship. A 16 or 17-year-old apprentice is legally a child, and any disclosure that suggests a mentee is being harmed goes to your Designated Safeguarding Lead the same day. The course walks through each of these so mentors know where their role starts and stops.
What’s in the course
- Why mentoring matters in early yearsGrowing your own staff, what a mentor changes for retention and quality, and what mentoring does for you.
- The mentor’s role: expectations, boundaries and inductionMentor, line manager and assessor, agreeing expectations, confidentiality limits and a structured first fortnight.
- How adults learn: coaching, modelling and feedback that sticksShow-explain-try-review cycles, thinking aloud, one focus at a time and feedback that lands.
- Supporting apprentices through their qualificationOff-the-job training time, portfolios, observations, professional discussions and working with the provider.
- Wellbeing, confidence and when a mentee strugglesEarly warning signs, the supportive conversation, safeguarding apprentices and when to escalate.
- Building a learning culture across your settingSeniors learning in the open, sharing practice, celebrating milestones and growing future room leaders.
- Assessment10 questions. Pass mark 80%. Resit as many times as you need.
What you’ll learn
- How the mentor, line manager and training provider’s assessor differ, and why you pass employment issues on rather than absorb them
- What to cover in a planned first fortnight: people, routines, safeguarding basics, the mobile phone policy and the environment
- Why you never promise a mentee that something will stay secret
- The four-step show, explain, try, review cycle, and why the review step is where most of the learning happens
- The feedback formula: specific, timely and private, with praise in public and correction in private
- How to protect off-the-job training time and help your mentee build portfolio evidence and prepare for professional discussions
- The five sideways signs of struggle, from attendance to coursework slippage, and how to open a supportive conversation
- When to involve the manager, the training provider or the DSL, and why you tell your mentee first where you can
Who this course is for
- Experienced practitioners who have been asked to mentor an apprentice, student or new starter
- Room leaders and deputies responsible for inducting new team members
- Managers who want mentoring to be a recognised role with clear expectations
- Practitioners working towards room leadership who want to build coaching and feedback skills
How it works
- OnlineStudy on any device and pick up where you left off.
- 6 short lessonsAbout 45 minutes in total.
- 10-question assessmentPass mark 80%. Resit as many times as you need.
- CertificateIssued when you pass. NFAQ accredited.
Training your team
New starters absorb the culture they see across the whole setting, so mentoring works best when more than one person is doing it well. Choose the number of learners at checkout, with group rates from 3 learners, or get it as part of the Training Portal for £5 per learner per month. Related courses: Room Leader Essentials: Stepping Up to Leadership and Effective Supervision and Appraisal for Early Years Managers.
Frequently asked questions
Is a mentor the same as a line manager?
Not necessarily. The mentor supports day-to-day learning, the line manager holds the employment relationship, and the training provider’s assessor judges the qualification. In some settings one person is both mentor and line manager, and the course shows how to keep the jobs clear.
Do mentors assess the apprentice’s qualification?
No. The training provider assesses the qualification. You support the daily practice that makes passing possible, feed real evidence into the portfolio and give fair preparation before observations.
Can an apprentice be counted in ratios?
The course explains that apprentices should be supernumerary early on and counted only once they are genuinely competent and hold the qualification level their apprenticeship stage allows, in line with your setting’s policies and the statutory framework. Check the detail with your manager.
What if my mentee tells me something in confidence?
Ordinary worries can stay between you, but confidentiality in early years is never absolute. Anything touching the safety or welfare of a child, a concern about a colleague, or a sign that your mentee is being harmed goes to your Designated Safeguarding Lead.
What happens if I don’t pass the assessment?
You can resit it as many times as you need until you pass. Your certificate is issued as soon as you reach the 80% pass mark.
Is this only for mentoring apprentices?
No. The same craft applies to students, unqualified new starters and experienced colleagues without the matching qualification, including those using the experience-based route.
