Guidance

Early years initial teacher training (ITT): a guide for employers

Updated 10 November 2023

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-initial-teacher-training-itt-a-guide-for-employers/early-years-initial-teacher-training-itt-a-guide-for-employers

Overview

Trainees must complete an early years initial teacher training (EYITT) course to become an early years teacher.

EYITT provides opportunities to gain practical skills and theoretical knowledge to demonstrate the Teachers’ Standards (Early Years). Successful completion of the training leads to the award of early years teacher status.

How your employee can apply

If you have a graduate employed in your early years setting, encourage them to apply. They can apply directly to an early years ITT provider offering the graduate employment based route for September 2024.

Funding

Funding is available to train graduates already employed in an early years setting.

Training providers receive the funding and retain the course fee. The remaining funding is given to you, the employer, to cover some of your costs - for example, supply costs or salary enhancement - in supporting the trainee employed by you to complete their course.

Find out more from the following guidance:

International students

International students can be offered funded EYITT places as long as the applicant meets:

  • all the academic entry criteria for the EYITT course
  • the relevant immigration permissions

Academic entry criteria

Applicants must have achieved the following:

  • a standard equivalent to a grade 4 (or C) in GCSE English, maths and a science subject
  • a first degree[footnote 1] from a UK higher education institution, or an equivalent qualification

International students can be awarded early years teacher status (EYTS) in the usual way on completion of an EYITT course.

Immigration permissions

Every international EYITT student must:

  • have the right to study or work in the UK
  • hold the relevant visa before they start their EYITT course

This is in line with the standard practice for all international students undertaking any course in an English university.

Refer to the guidance for ITT providers on how to recruit trainee teachers from overseas for additional information. The ‘Support for candidates’ section of this guidance is not applicable to EYITT.

Potential international students should check their eligibility for a visa.

Research

The following research reports show that the quality of early years provision is higher when practice is led by specially trained graduates:

  • Early years workforce qualifications and children’s outcomes found that there is a positive association between the presence of degree-qualified staff and children’s outcomes. The strongest effects were seen for children in settings where a staff member held qualified teacher status (QTS), followed by those holding early years teacher status (EYTS – achieved through EYITT), with smaller effects for staff holding early years professional status (EYPS).

  • Evaluation of the graduate leader fund: final report found that settings which employed a graduate leader with early years professional status (the predecessor of early years teacher status) made significant improvements in quality for preschool children (aged 30 months to 5 years) compared with settings that did not. Improvements were most evident where those with early years professional status worked directly, and led practice, in a room with children.

  • Longitudinal Study of Early Years Professional Status: an exploration of progress, leadership and impact final report found that early years professional status had created professionals who were confident about taking on a leadership role in settings. 80% of early years professionals felt that gaining early years professional status had increased their ability to carry out improvements in their settings.

Contact us

If you have any questions, email EYITT.GENERALENQUIRIES@education.gov.uk

  1. A first degree comprises 300 higher education (HE) credit points, of which 60 must be at level 6 of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). Applicants with a foundation degree will need to supplement this qualification with at least 60 credits at level 6 (HE level 3) in order to attain an equivalent single qualification. ↩

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