Job descriptions for early years and childcare workers in schools

Foundation Stage Worker is an NVQ Level 2 (or equivalent) job description and is suitable for nurseries and FSUs where there are more than 26 children in attendance; in these provisions there is a requirement in the Early Years Foundation Stage to have 50% of the rest of the staff (after counting the qualified teacher and the NVQ Level 3 (or equivalent)) qualified to NVQ Level 2 (or equivalent). Some nurseries operate to a higher ratio than the required 1:13. Those nurseries may wish to use this job description for support staff working in the setting rather than a Learning Support Assistant job description. This job description is graded as a ‘B’.

Foundation Stage Practitioner is an NVQ Level 3 (or equivalent) job description and all nurseries in schools must have a member of staff qualified to NVQ Level 3 (or equivalent). This is the job description that replaced the Nursery Nurse job description. This job description is graded as a ‘C’.

Foundation Stage Supervisor is an NVQ Level 3/4 (or equivalent) and higher job description. There is an expectation that the member of staff is working towards an NVQ Level 4 (or equivalent) or higher. Schools that have several support staff in their nursery or Foundation Stage Unit may wish to use this job description. This worker would have responsibility for managing other early years workers and can cover PPA time and planned absences for the teacher. There is not a requirement to have a member of staff qualified to this level, however if you have a large provision it may worth considering. This job description is graded as a ‘E’.