You don’t need any previous experience of working with children to become a childcare assistant with an Aspiration Training childcare apprenticeship or traineeship. Find out more.
Sometimes you can have a real passion to get into a career – like a childcare career – but you may be worried that lack of experience can hold you back. You don’t have to worry though. Here at Aspiration Training, we understand. You can become a childcare assistant with a childcare apprenticeship or traineeship that’s just right for you, and you can apply for one with no experience.
Find out more with our FAQs below. These are questions we often get asked and they might help you decide you are ready to take the next step and apply.
Do you need any previous experience of working with children to become a childcare assistant?
No. You don’t.
If you’re starting straight out of school, you may not have built up experience yet. But you can still shine in a childcare career.
- Have you babysat for younger brothers and sisters?
- Or cared for your family?
- Or volunteered at a youth club or community centre?
If so, you have been put in a position of responsibility looking after children before. That’s life experience, even if you did not get paid for it! If you tell us about it when you apply for a childcare apprenticeship, it could help your application.
Even if you have never had any experience like this, you can still apply for a childcare apprenticeship with Aspiration Training.
Do you need to have worked in a nursery or early learning centre before to become a childcare assistant?
No. You don’t.
The good news is that Aspiration Training childcare apprenticeships can help you build practical experience of working in places like this. They will give you more confidence in your future as you build up your skills.
Our childcare apprenticeships are often based in:
- Early learning centres
- Pre-schools
- Nurseries
- Creches
- Social care schemes
- Youth/community club facilities
This means you have more opportunities to apply for in your local area. With an apprenticeship, you get paid and trained at the same time, while you get hands-on experience of working with a childcare employer.
Why is previous experience not important?
Are you ready to be hardworking and trustworthy and learn new things? That is much more important than experience.
Let’s say you’ve left school and you want to work with children. You can do just that with an Aspiration Training childcare apprenticeship. You can get paid to learn with our childcare apprenticeships and grow your confidence for a rewarding future career.
We can offer you:
- A childcare apprenticeship that suits your level of education and experience
- Mentoring and support – (you get your own personal tutor to support you)
- A chance to build your childcare skills in real working environments with employers
- A chance for you to build your confidence in what you can achieve
- Knowledge to help you become a childcare assistant helping children’s lives everywhere
- A national childcare qualification (e.g. a level 2 Diploma for the children and young people’s workforce, or higher qualifications depending on your apprenticeship)
- Help with functional skills in Maths, English and ICT
You always get a salary with apprenticeships, so you will get paid to learn how to do something you love.
Childcare assistant Darci looks back on her traineeship with Aspiration Training:
Relaxed
“The traineeship was a lot of fun. It was a very relaxed experience. It was the right environment to learn in, basically. I thought it would be a lot more complicated when I started, but everyone on the traineeship team was very laidback, very supportive.”
See Darci’s story on becoming a childcare assistant
Can a childcare apprenticeship lead to a real childcare career?
Yes. It can.
For apprentices that work hard and try their best, most employers will give you further paid training, a permanent job, or both!
You have also got a head start on university graduates when you do a childcare apprenticeship. While they are just coming out of university with no experience and looking for a job, you already have lots of practical experience AND qualifications because of your childcare apprenticeship. And as a hardworking apprentice you have employers who know you and trust you, too.
