Early Years: accredited Level 3 training for Special Educational Needs Coordinators

The Department for Education intends to increase specialist expertise in SEND by increasing the number of Level 3 qualified SENCOs in group based settings and childminder settings, at a critical time for early years children, and in particular at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly reduced opportunities to identify and address SEND amongst children not yet of compulsory school age.

To further aid understanding of the SENCO role in these settings and what a qualification to enable an individual to perform this role should include, the department, with input from key EY sector stakeholders, put together two documents ("Early years level 3 SENCO qualification specification" and "Role description of the early years special educational needs coordinator") which are available on gov.uk.

The primary objective for this contract is to increase the number of Level 3 qualified SENCOs, available to children in group based settings and childminder settings, who have the knowledge and skills to properly fulfil the role of a SENCO described in the code of practice and in the role description.

The Supplier will deliver training of up to 5,000 SENCOs. Training will be available across England but with minimum % targets for each LA region. Training must take place between September 2022 and 31 August 2024. Training must result in an accredited Level 3 EY SENCO qualification.