Using the experience-based route in your setting
How taking the experience-based route can unlock working in the staff:child ratios at level 3.
The experience-based route is a way for experienced early years practitioners who do not have a full and relevant level 3 qualification to be able to count in the staff:child ratios at level 3.
The experience-based route has been introduced as the Department for Education (DfE) knows that there are lots of skilled and talented people working in the early years sector who do not hold a qualification which allows them to count in the staff:child ratios at level 3. It’s a way to recognise that people with the right level of experience and knowledge can offer a great deal to the education and care of young children.
Who can take the experience-based route
There are eligibility requirements for both the practitioner and the setting that they work in.
Practitioner eligibility requirements
The practitioner must hold a full and relevant level 2 qualification or a non full and relevant level 3 or above qualification which is related to the care and education of children. You can check if a qualification is approved as full and relevant by using the Check an early years qualification service.
The practitioner must also have been working in early years or a related sector in England for at least one year.
Setting managers or eligible assessors are responsible for checking if a practitioner meets these requirements.
Setting eligibility requirements
The setting must have received a Good or Outstanding rating in its most recent Ofsted inspection to be able to offer the experience-based route to its staff.
The process for taking the experience-based route
Initial assessment
Once it’s been established that both the practitioner and the setting meet the eligibility requirements, the manager must carry out an initial assessment of the practitioner’s skills, knowledge and experience using the early years educator level 3 criteria. To continue onto the experience-based route, the practitioner must meet at least 50% of the criteria.
Supervised practice period
The next stage is the supervised practice period. The practitioner will continue to work at their setting, carrying out tasks and duties that let them develop and demonstrate their skills and knowledge. Some of these might be their regular duties, but they may be given additional responsibilities to stretch and challenge them.
The supervised practice period must be a minimum of between 751 and 900 hours, equivalent to around 6 months working in a full time role. This period includes all hours worked in their setting while undertaking the experience-based route. Learning and development activities also count towards the supervised practice period hours requirement.
The practitioner must be supervised throughout the supervised practice period. The supervisor will provide support, monitor progress and document the practitioner’s progress against the early years educator level 3 criteria.
Final assessment
The final assessment should follow a similar process to the initial assessment. During the final assessment, the manager or assessor will consider all the skills and knowledge demonstrated by the practitioner during both their initial assessment and the recorded hours in their supervised practice period.
If the practitioner is assessed to have met 100% of the early years educator level 3 criteria, they have successfully completed their experience-based route and gain experience-based route status.
You can find more guidance and assessment templates for the experience-based route on GOV.UK and in the Early years qualification requirements and standards document.
Working in the staff:child ratios at level 3 after taking the experience-based route
A practitioner who has successfully completed the experience-based route can count in the staff:child ratios at level 3. Like other practitioners working at level 3 with a qualification awarded after June 2016, they will also need to hold a level 2 English qualification and a valid paediatric first aid qualification to count in the staff:ratios at level 3.
As experience-based route status is not a qualification, it is not automatically transferrable between different providers.
There is a maximum of 50% of staff who can be included in the staff:child ratios at level 3 using their EBR status at any one time.
Examples
Olivia, who holds a level 2 qualification
Olivia has worked in a private nursery for one year. She has a full and relevant early years practitioner level 2 qualification and has been working in the staff child ratios at level 2.
She’s interested in the experience-based route and talks to her manager about starting the process. Her manager does an initial assessment and Olivia meets 62% of the level 3 criteria.
She starts the supervised practice period to gain experience against the missing criteria, and after 6 months she has completed 900 hours of supervised practice.
She decides with her manager to take the final assessment. She is assessed as meeting 95% of the criteria and so cannot be granted experience-based route status.
She continues the supervised practice period for a further 2 weeks to meet the remaining 5%. Her manager then reassesses her. This time Olivia meets 100% of the criteria and gains experience-based route status to be included in the ratios at level 3.
Mark, who holds a non-full and relevant level 6 qualification
Mark has worked in a nursery in a maintained school for 2 years. He has a degree in early years that is not approved by DfE as full and relevant and has been working as an unqualified member of staff.
He wants to take the experience-based route. His manager agrees and carries out an assessment. In that initial assessment Mark meets 74% of the criteria.
He starts the supervised practice period to meet the remaining criteria and completes 850 hours of supervised practice.
When his manager does the final assessment, Mark meets 100% of the criteria and is granted experience-based route status to work in the ratios at level 3 at his provider.
Later on, Mark gets a new job with a different early years provider. When he moves employer he shares evidence of his experience-based route status at the nursery he was assessed in but goes back to working as an unqualified member of staff.
Mark’s new manager assesses him again after he has worked there for a month. He meets 100% of the criteria and is granted experience-based route status to work at level 3 in his new job.
Find out more
You can find out more about the experience-based route by reading the full guidance. This document includes more information about:
- provider eligibility
- staff eligibility
- the initial assessment
- the supervised practice period
- the final assessment
- working in staff:child ratios at level 3 with experience-based route status