The Early Years Professional Development Programme (PDP) is currently being rolled out to 50 local authorities. Since the programme was launched in December 2019, PDP training has been delivered to over 1,200 early years practitioners in more than 1,000 PVI settings and school nurseries, and is set to benefit around 50,000 children.
The Department for Education (DfE) are investing £10 million in a second phase of the programme in 51 new local authorities. This will equip practitioners with the skills they need to provide high quality support and teaching on early language, early maths and personal, social, and emotional development (PSED) to children who are most at risk of falling behind at a critical stage of their development due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The DfE has acknowledged that the sector is working incredibly hard to manage workforce pressure, and want to support practitioners to be able to attend this training. Local authorities can find out further information about the support available to them in this Q&A document.
You can find out more about the programme, and the local authorities involved, on the Education Development Trust’s (EDT) website. You can also find out more by getting in touch with the EDT team at info@eypdp2022.com.