Hawk Training and The Skills Network partner to deliver innovative new Skills Bootcamp for the Early Years sector

The Skills Network, the leading provider of life-long skills, learning and CPD, has announced it is partnering with Hawk Training to expand its Skills Bootcamps offering into the Early Years sector with an Early Years training course.

Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible online courses of up to 14 weeks for learners aged 19 and over in England, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track career progression. Learners are offered a job interview with an employer once they complete the course.

These have been developed as part of the Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Plan for Jobs, helping everyone gain skills for life and providing the perfect first step into a new career. The £3bn Government initiative is designed to close the skills gap in the UK that has been intensified by the disruption that coronavirus caused to job sectors and businesses.

Hawk Training is rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted and the partnership will ensure learners who learn with The Skills Network and complete the Skills Bootcamp in Early Years can fully progress along their career trajectory by embarking on an accelerated Early Years Educator apprenticeship. In the first instance, Hawk is partnering with three well-established early years employers – Hungry Caterpillars, The Co-operative Childcare and Kindred. All three will provide supported employment opportunities which will benefit from a structured early years apprenticeship delivered by Hawk.

Crawford Knott, Hawk’s Managing Director, said:

“As an Ofsted Outstanding provider, we are keen to develop high-quality strategic partnerships which deliver the best outcomes for families, learners and employers. This partnership with The Skills Network and key employer partners will enable us to support employers with recruitment challenges whist at the same time ensuring learners benefit from high-quality learning and development coupled with the opportunity to progress onto an apprenticeship delivered by an Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ provider.”

Mark Dawe, CEO of The Skills Network said:

“This is a great example of where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  The Skills Network’s expertise in delivering Skills Bootcamps online in a flexible and responsive way, combined with Hawk’s Early Years expertise and outstanding delivery of apprenticeships, allows us to offer both the learner and employer an incredible pathway into work. The Skills Network is very excited to be working with Hawk and hope that this is the beginning of a strong and growing relationship.”

Kindred’s CEO, Ruth Pimentel said:

“We’re delighted to be working with Hawk Training and The Skills Network to support the Skills Bootcamp. We think it’s a brilliant opportunity to showcase how wonderful a career in Early Years can be and hopefully, we can bring more people into the sector from different walks of life. A career in Early Years is one of the most rewarding, and Kindred Nursery Group are delighted to be able to encourage more people to experience the joy of working with young children and seeing them grow, learn and develop.“

Claire McCarthy, Leadership and Careers Solution Lead at The Co-operative Childcare said:

“We are extremely excited about The Early Years Skills Bootcamp. This government initiative is going to help us with our recruitment strategy across England, as it will provide a great opportunity to introduce a diverse group of people into the sector. It will also support building a pipeline of talent that can only support the sector where there is a significant recruitment crisis. We look forward to working with The Skills Network and Hawk Training on this project to positively impact the sector.”