My experience completing Early Years Child Development Training

The Department for Education (DfE) provides many useful CPD offers for Early Years professionals. One of these offers is the Early Years Child Development Training. This free, online training provides an overview of child development and gives practical advice for supporting the development of children in your early years setting. Our Hub’s Training and Engagement Lead, Amanda Hall, recently completed the training and had some thoughts to share!

“The majority of my career has been spent focusing on Speech, Language and Communication in the early years, so I had lost touch with many areas of development that I had gained around 20 years ago when I completed my NVQ Level 3! I needed some training that had a little bit of everything included, which was when I found the Department for Education’s Early Years Child Development Training. As someone that has worked within the early years sector for almost 23 years, I was amazed by all the information I had forgotten. Either way this was a great course for me, as I needed something that would keep my attention and would fit in with work and other commitments.

It’s super easy to register, then everything needed to get started is on one screen. There are modules that I worked through with a variation of text and videos. I also receive information on when new modules are added and any updates on the course. It has nine modules in total, five are already on the website, with the remaining four to be added soon.  The modules include brain development, personal, social and emotional development, speech language and communication and physical development. It combines theory with practical tips and ideas that can be used within everyday practice. Each one takes between one to two hours, but it also provides additional links to information which I found useful and would spend time reading.  

It is very easy to follow, and flexible as I could pause, save and restart it whenever I like, although I must say I didn't pause and restart as much as I thought I would as I found it really interesting and gained lots of new knowledge! It has bite size chunks of information,and time for you to add to a ‘Learning Log’ throughout the modules so you can reflect on your practice. At the end of each module there was a short test and I received a certificate for each module I completed, great for my continuous professional development file!

All in all, I found this course really useful for my professional development and would recommend that others working in early years give it a go!”

Want to find out more about the DfE’s Early Years Child Development Training and how to enrol? Click below!

https://child-development-training.education.gov.uk/