Any nursery workers here? Apprenticeship questions

[TeenAndTween]

My DD is currently planning to apply for a childcare apprenticeship leading to NVQ L3 Early Years Educator (?) when she finishes college in July. She will be 18, has 8 GCSE passes incl English and Maths, and will have also completed a '2 A level equivalent' BTEC.

What I don't know is what questions to ask to ensure a) she can be reasonably confident she will like the apprenticeship and b) she is doing it for a 'good' organisation.

• hours / pay / leave / sickness
• typical day
• assignment work requirements outside of standard hours
• what sort of written work will be required for the NVQ
• are there research type assignments (she struggles with these)
• what support for NVQ if she struggles
• opportunities to work with different ages
• will she get L2 qualification part way through
• do they standardly offer permanent job after completing apprenticeship

What am I missing?

Thanks for any help.

[TeenAndTween]

Acubed and insancerre Thank you both for your detailed answers they are very helpful.

We want to be asking now, as if when she finds out more detail she changes her mind, we want to have time for her to develop a Plan B before college finishes.
We realise that places advertised now may well not be available later, but I am hoping that it at least gives an indication she might be able to find a spot somewhere later, (especially if she can get in and apply before the school leavers.)

[insancerre]

If nurseries are looking for apprentices now they won't be interested in your daughter if she is not available till July
I have an apprentice in my nursery
He earns £3.40 an hour for a 37.5 hour week and he is on a 12 month apprentice contract with no guarantee of a job at the end
I'm hoping I can offer him a job as he is bloody brilliant but I have no way of knowing my staffing requirements for July
He is signed up through learn direct and they visit him in the setting
He is expected to do the work in his own time
The level 2 and level 3 are separate qualifications so no she wont achieve the level 2 if she is not studying for it
A typical day?
No such thing, as every setting is different

[ACubed]

Greetings! I did a L2 apprenticeship, then gained employment and just completed may L3, all at the same place. I'm sure everywhere is different, but my experience is below;

• hours / pay / leave / sickness - I did 6 hour days, £400 a month salary (employer/gov pays for course)
  
• typical day - assisting key workers with observing and working with children, some cleaning/tidying, learning the paperwork and policies of the setting
  
• assignment work requirements outside of standard hours - not too sure, I had one day off a week to go to college.
  
• what sort of written work will be required for the NVQ - It's a lot of written work to prove she knows all the different criteria, observations on children (names removed) and about two million planned activities for different ages/areas of learning. There's a lot of reflecting on ones practice.
  
• are there research type assignments (she struggles with these)
  
• what support for NVQ if she struggles - Tutor I'd imagine
  
• opportunities to work with different ages - check with setting to see if she would be allowed to work in different rooms
  
• will she get L2 qualification part way through - nope, and L2 qualifications are not really appealing to employers as you need a L3 with each group of children usually
  
• do they standardly offer permanent job after completing apprenticeship - mine did, but it would really depend on setting

[TeenAndTween]

Fine Thank you.

We are going to phone up and ask if she can visit a local nursery or 2 and speak to a manager and also a current/recent apprentice. There are 7 places currently within 5 miles of us advertising apprenticeships, though of course DD won't be available until July/August.

There doesn't seem to be a clear attached college to these apprenticeships, that's something I don't quite get at the moment. They seem to have some kind of not very tangible organisation which supports them. So I guess that is clearly another question to ask!

[FineAsWeAre]

Who are you going to speak to? Some of your questions are for the college and some for the setting. Is she wanting to go to a nursery or a childminder? If she's going straight onto level 3 she won't get a level 2 qualification, but she doesn't need it. Also, I wouldn't bother asking about a job to be honest, nowhere can promise that they'll have a vacancy at a specific time. I think you've probably covered everything else, although I'd maybe ask if there will be any costs to her e.g. Uniform, DBS etc. You could ask if apprentices get offered any other CPD training as well.