The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) is pleased to announce that the ‘Education and Childcare’ occupational route will now be known as the ‘Education and Early Years’.
The name change, which has been approved by the Secretary of State for Education, brings the occupational route name in line with terminology used by the sector to describe itself. It also reflects the fact that childcare is part of the early years sector.
This followed requests from our route panel of employers, a group of expert representatives from the education and early years sector, reflecting concerns that the old route name did not represent the full range of occupations in the sector or IfATE’s occupational maps.
Joanna Moonan, deputy director for IfATE’s people services route group, said: “We’re delighted to announce this change. IfATE proposed it after listening to our highly valued route panel members and consulting further with trailblazer groups, who develop and update apprenticeships, and other valued stakeholders. We are confident it will better reflect the needs of the sector.”
Route panel chair Jean-Noel Ezingeard, who is vice chancellor at the University of Roehampton, said: “On behalf of myself and the entire route panel we are delighted that the Secretary of State has approved renaming our route Education and Early Years. We have long championed the use of the term ‘Early Years’ in the title and the change now reflects the range of occupations and standards in the sector.”
IfATE also consulted with the Department for Education early years team and the Association of Education and Learning Providers.
We will now begin the work involved in updating all literature to reflect the new name of the occupational route.