6th March 2020 All Posts

Customer Spotlight: London Early Years Foundation

LEYF Launches the UK’s FIRST Ever Male-only Cohort of Apprenticeships in Early Years

In March 2020, London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) will be launching the UK’s FIRST ever male-only cohort of apprenticeships in Early Years, working with the under 5’s, to help boost the number of men joining the sector.

The 12-18 month salaried training programme, which offers hands on experience and training in one of LEYF’s 39 diverse settings, is in partnership with the University of Wolverhampton who will assess the initiative and identify key learnings, to be shared with the sector.

At present, LEYF has an 8.2% male work force which is well above the average sector of 3%. The ambition is to increase this to 10% – especially given that 84% of LEYF parents want to see more men working in childcare.

The male-only cohort (which will also run alongside a female-only cohort) will encourage apprentices to share and discuss their personal experiences among their peers, whilst learning about child development and education. Upon successful completion, all apprentices will be given a guaranteed interview for a LEYF teacher post.

“The UK urgently needs more men to work with children in Early Years settings, which is why our male-only cohort of apprenticeships is a key driver for much-needed change. Never before has a programme like this been introduced which provides a great opportunity to join one of LEYF’s 39 charitable social enterprise nurseries and champion the importance of a wider variety of positive role models within the early years.”
Nick Corlett
Nick Corlett
Senior Manager at LEYF Marsham Street Nursery and Pre School and Head of LEYF’s Men in Childcare
“We have been campaigning for over 10 years to increase the number of men in childcare and build a more gender inclusive environment. Work done by Men in Childcare Scotland and Men in Childcare Ireland as well as our European colleagues has shown that training male-only groups tends to deliver a more positive outcome and we hope to achieve the same. Furthermore, combining work with training has been popular since apprentices were put on the Statute in 1563, so they certainly stand the test of time!”
June Osullivan LEYF
June O’Sullivan
CEO - LEYF
“There is currently an under-representation of males within the Early Years. Following on from our previous action research; Men in the Early Years – does it matter to children?, the London Early Years Foundation wanted to look further into what is holding males back from joining the sector. We therefore want to continue our gender inclusiveness and work towards a more gender balanced workforce without prejudice.”
LEYF Staff
Dr Helen Perkins and Tracey Edwards
Male Cohort Leads - University of Wolverhampton

To register interest in LEYF’s male-only cohort of apprenticeship, contact alana@leyf.org.uk or nick@leyf.org.uk.

For further information/interviews, please contact David Clarke @ Rock PR. 
T: 07773 225516
E: david@rock-pr.com

 

Social Media:

Twitter: @LEYFonline, @JuneOSullivan, 

About London Early Years Foundation (LEYF)

Headed up by CEO June O’Sullivan MBE, London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) is one of London’s largest and most successful charitable social enterprises, operating 39 award-winning nurseries in some of London’s most disadvantaged areas with 32% of our children on a funded-only nursery place. 

LEYF currently provides high quality childcare to more than 4,000 children, employing over 800 staff locally – along with 60 apprentices – across 11 London boroughs. With all profits reinvested back into the business, LEYF is the largest provider of the free two-year-old offer in London and 61% of the nurseries are Ofsted ‘Outstanding’, the rest are ‘Good’.

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