This article is brought to you by Slough Borough Council's Early Years team, on behalf of the Department for Education, for the attention of all Early Years settings.
Free online child development training for all those working in early years, including reception
The Department for Education’s Early years child development training is a free, online programme designed by early years experts to support educators working with children from birth to reception.
This flexible online training will help you to:
- Build and strengthen your child development knowledge
- Get practical advice and ideas to support children in your setting, including reception classes
- Reflect on your practice and test your knowledge
- Learn from practical training videos filmed in early years and reception settings
- Access modules in any order, at any time
- Download a certificate on completion of each module
The programme includes 8 modules, covering key areas such as:
- Brain development and how children learn
- Personal, social and emotional development
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Mathematics
- Effective curriculum and assessment
- Supporting individual differences and needs
The training has recently been updated to include:
- Additional videos and practical advice for supporting children in reception
- Guidance on supporting the EYFS profile assessment
Access the training:
Visit the Early years child development training to register or sign-in if you already have an account.
Free early years resources: Help for Early Years Providers also offers free resources for educators working with children aged 0 to 5 years.
The website has recently been updated to include EYFS profile assessment support including bite-sized videos and case studies.
A new safer sleep page has also been created in collaboration with The Lullaby Trust, providing advice to create and maintain safer sleep environments for babies and young children in their care.