The Department of Education (DfE) early years COVID-19 recovery experts and mentors programme will support early years practitioners, leaders and whole-settings through bespoke support to be delivered both in the setting face-to-face and virtually. The offer to settings will include leadership support, coaching for leaders, mentoring for practitioners and whole-setting support depending on needs.
The experts and mentors pilot programme will take place in two Regional Schools Commissioners (RSC) regions, Lancashire and West Yorkshire and the North of England, from April – July 2022. The application process for the pilot programme is now closed, and successful candidates have been notified and are participating in training, ready to begin support in April 2022.
The DfE are now looking for candidates to take part in the full programme roll-out, commencing on a national scale, in September 2022 (covering academic years 2022/23 and 2023/24). Experienced early years professionals are invited to apply for the roles of Area Lead, Expert or Mentor. A link to the application forms can be found here.
More information on the experience required, responsibilities and funding associated with each of these roles is provided in each of the expression of interest application forms.