The power of strategic content and peer learning to drive improvements in early childhood education: lessons from England’s EYPDP

In the context of a complex early years workforce, we will examine what made the programme so impactful for the practitioners we worked with, and ultimately, for the children in their care. By extension, we will set out what we believe should be the focus of future interventions designed to support others working with the youngest children. We believe these to be the quality and relevance of the content, and a delivery model that not only facilitated deep learning, but also accountability, networking, and profound support.  

Why early years professional development is so important 

High-quality early childhood education – in the first five years of life – is a hugely important foundation for lifelong learning and behaviour. During this critical period, referred to in the UK as ‘early years’, children’s brains are at their most potent stage of development, working on essential physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional skills which will be fundamental to their futures – both in education and in later life.  

One of the most important levers for improving early childhood education is to ensure that the early years workforce is well equipped with the knowledge, training, and confidence to rise effectively to the challenges of educating very young learners. Professional development and training for these individuals – from childminders to day nursery staff, to early years teachers in school settings – is therefore hugely important in getting early childhood education right. 

This is why we at edt were delighted to be selected by the Department for Education (DfE) as the delivery partner for the Early Years Professional Development Programme (EYPDP) in England, to run this flagship programme.  

Background to the programme 

This six-year programme, which ran from 2019 to 2025, supported early years practitioners working with children aged two-to-four in pre-reception (pre-school) settings, helping them to improve their professional practice and children’s outcomes. Over three phases, the EYPDP supported over 14,500 early years educators working across all 153 local authorities in England. 

The third phase of the EYPDP was evaluated after its completion in early 2025, and was found to have had an overwhelmingly positive impact on participants. 98% of participants said they felt more confident and knowledgeable as a result of the programme, and 94% reported that they felt motivated to continue working as early years practitioners after completing it. These results were echoed in the DfE’s own evaluation of the EYPDP, which found that 94% of setting leaders felt that the programme had improved the quality of provision, and 85% of practitioners believed the changes made to their practice would impact children’s development. Other practitioners reported already seeing improvements in children’s outcomes because of the programme. 

The EYPDP also had wider positive impacts: 84% of participants said their morale has improved, with one sharing, “We feel sparked, enthused and excited again. It has helped with things like building our confidence, especially with maths.” 

The complexity of the early years workforce in the UK 

The UK’s early years workforce is large and varied. Practitioners work across a wide range of settings – from working as sole, home-based childminders, to private day nursery settings and government-funded school nurseries. Some provision is government-funded, while other provision is funded privately, and the qualification system can be complex. 

Formal qualification requirements for working with young children in the UK vary substantially. Most nursery settings require a National Vocational Qualification Level 2 for an assistant-level role, and a Level 3 for more senior roles, such as room leaders. Some settings may hire individuals without formal qualifications, but they typically need to work towards achieving one while employed. Childminders are not obliged to undertake any mandatory qualifications, although they are expected to demonstrate an understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage and undertake safeguarding and first aid training. Meanwhile, some school nurseries and maintained nursery classes include staff with qualified teacher status. This means that early years educators in the UK have hugely varied levels of training and knowledge of child development and early education. Indeed, the Nutbrown review highlighted concerns that the current early years qualifications system is not systematically equipping practitioners with the knowledge, skills, and understanding they need to give babies and young children high-quality educational experiences within early years settings.

In this context, continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities for early years practitioners are critically important for raising the quality of early years education. However, a 2021 study found that managers in many early years settings limit staff training opportunities to those that are mandatory, such as safeguarding, health and safety, and first aid. This is largely due to financial constraints, even though practitioners are often keen to participate in additional CPD. Where additional training is taking place, it is often focused on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or English as an additional language.  

The complexity of the early years workforce, and the continued need and appetite for training and development in the sector, are key reasons why we are so passionate about the impact of the EYPDP and the potential for further positive change in future initiatives. The programme clearly demonstrated that with the opportunity to access high-quality CPD content, a wide variety of practitioners were able to improve their practice – and the quality of provision available to the children in their care.  

Content that develops knowledge and instils confidence  

A fundamental strength of the EYPDP – and a quality that should underpin any successful professional development programme for early childhood educators in future – was the choice and depth of content that participants were exposed to. The module content was carefully designed to benefit practitioners from different backgrounds and with different levels of training, with a deep consideration of what information would have the greatest positive impact on staff and children. Not only were topics carefully selected, but the modules included substantially more material, and in greater detail, than any participants would have previously experienced, including on initial training courses. This meant that the modules did not merely serve to simply recap prior training, but instead stretched participants with new knowledge and perspectives, and instilled confidence in key areas which they may not otherwise have developed.  

Three key content areas were chosen to form the basis of the EYPDP: communication and language, early mathematics, and personal, social, and emotional development (PSED). These were strategic choices designed to create meaningful changes to the pre-school experiences of the children impacted by the programme.

Communication and language 

Communication and language is the golden thread that runs through all other areas of development, underpinning a child’s ability to access all future learning. This makes it both a crucial and logical choice for an introductory topic. The development of children’s language and communication skills, therefore, has far-reaching implications: gaps in communication and language development can emerge early in a child’s life, but the effects can continue to be felt throughout their school years and even into adulthood. By the age of three, the language development skills of disadvantaged children are, on average, almost a year and a half behind those of their more advantaged peers. Children whose language development is less advanced at the age of five are six times less likely to reach expected standards in English by the age of eleven – and are eleven times less likely to reach these standards in mathematics. Approximately two million children in the UK currently struggle with speech and language development.vi It is therefore crucially important that early years practitioners are equipped to effectively support children as they develop their language and communication skills.  

Early identification of speech and language difficulties and needs is crucially important in ensuring that children receive appropriate support, and do not fall further behind their peers. Specialist support services exist, but waiting lists are typically long, especially in the post-Covid-19 pandemic context, as lockdowns contributed to various developmental delays in many more children than usual. As of June 2024, over 40,000 children faced waits of more than 12 weeks for speech and language therapy. That said, even prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for specialist support for language development delays was already significant. The EYPDP content was designed to not only give early years practitioners the knowledge and skills to identify difficulties, but also to support children within their early education settings. In some cases, this alleviated the problems associated with long waiting lists; in others, children made so much improvement that they no longer required specialist help.  

Early mathematics 

Developing a firm foundation in number sense is essential to children building the necessary skills to excel mathematically, making early mathematics another key factor in their future educational success. Early mathematics comprises concepts and skills such as understanding numbers, counting, spatial reasoning, and patterns, building a strong base for later learning by fostering a positive attitude towards the subject. Mathematical understanding helps children to make sense of their world and surroundings, and to solve problems in everyday life – and early maths skills are important predictors of their later educational attainment.   

Despite this, a large proportion of the UK’s early years workforce does not have a positive history of mathematics learning from their own experiences of education. For many practitioners who found mathematics difficult in their own schooling, the idea of teaching early mathematical concepts can be intimidating. The mathematics content of the EYPDP was therefore specifically designed to give them confidence. It was successful in doing so: 96% of participants reported feeling more confident in using early mathematics in their practice by the end of the programme. Crucially, the programme substantially boosted participants’ confidence by showing them how mathematics can be used in everyday practice in new ways, and how practitioners were in fact already teaching mathematical concepts in their practice without realising it.  

“You automatically think mathematics and it's like a daunting shadow. I used to hate maths in school and you automatically think how on earth am I going to teach a child mathematics…it [EYPDP3 module] was really good and it has given me a lot of confidence.”

Early years practitioner

“For most practitioners that I've ever spoken to or come into contact with, maths is the subject that they feel that they're not as confident with [but] really realising where in your daily practice maths actually comes into play…that was so much fun. That was the best module for me – I enjoyed that immensely.”

Childminder, EYPDP participant  

Personal, social, and emotional development   

Personal, social, and emotional development (PSED) was chosen as a focus area for the EYPDP in response to feedback from the sector to the DfE, specifically on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. The impacts of national lockdowns on children’s emotional and social development were substantial: a July 2022 Ofsted report highlighted that many children lacked confidence in social settings as a result of quarantines, with some taking longer to settle into nursery or with a childminder than would have been expected before the pandemic.  Some children’s social skills – such as those needed to make friends, become more confident, and communicate with adults – were also less advanced than would have been expected at their age, as they had missed out on socialising with other children and adults during the pandemic. These negative effects were also more prevalent among disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs. Further research also highlighted that while older children were able to simulate social contact with friends through video chats, this was not the case for pre-school age children, and parents were concerned about the lack of social interaction that their young children were able to participate in during lockdowns. 

The module content was therefore specifically designed to support practitioners working with children who had spent their earliest months and years in lockdowns. In addition to helping practitioners to support children in catching up with their social development, it also included quite challenging – but important – content, such as identifying trauma and dysregulation in young children, and how to engage with parents on difficult issues.  These latter points remain highly relevant even as new cohorts of children born after the peak of the pandemic enter early years settings: PSED and emotional intelligence will be of critical importance for young children navigating a rapidly changing world. 

Crucially, the PSED module also included an entire unit dedicated to staff wellbeing. This included support for managers on how to conduct meaningful supervisions and also encouraged settings to develop a staff wellbeing policy. It also included elements such as identifying signs of stress, reflective practice, active listening, and supportive, nurturing relationships with staff. We believe this is an important part of early years professional development: in addition to benefitting the individual practitioner, improving practitioner wellbeing can also benefit the setting as a whole, by creating a more positive environment for staff and children alike. In turn, this can result in reduced rates of absence, increased effectiveness at work, increased staff retention, and stronger relationships with the children in their care. Importantly, these strong relationships can help to support children’s development and emotional regulation.  

A format for peer learning, trust, and accountability 

We believe that the format of the programme was fundamental to its success. Participants were required to complete independent, theory-based e-learning for each unit, before coming together into webinar groups in which they could collaboratively work out how to put their ideas into practice and reflect on what did or did not work in their settings. These groups were specifically designed to be consistent across the entire programme, and this consistency was essential to building trust and relationships in which participants could talk openly about their learning. It also introduced a higher level of accountability than would otherwise have been possible. After each unit, participants were asked to implement an action plan in their setting based on their learning, and then to report back to the group about what did and did not work in practice. This accountability to a peer group increased participants’ engagement, encouraged deeper reflection, and increased the impact of their work on the programme.  

The professional networks that these webinar groups provided were especially impactful in the context of the UK early years workforce, which typically offers few opportunities for practitioners to connect with others in the industry. This issue of isolation can be especially prevalent for childminders who work alone, or amongst local settings where the competitive nature of the market creates a reluctance to encourage networking. The webinar format offered networking amongst a diverse range of people and backgrounds – across different roles (such as childminders, day nursery staff, and school nursery staff), with access to different resources, and across different geographies and demographics – creating opportunities for richer dialogue. 

Ordering content for effective learning 

The order of the EYPDP content was also a purposeful consideration. Communication and language was chosen as a first module because it is the foundation for all other learning in the early years, as well as it being an area with which many practitioners are more familiar. As a result of this familiarity, the communication and language module helped early years practitioners get used to the course and its format and begin to develop relationships within their webinar groups with a less intimidating topic. This meant that by the time the cohorts moved on to discuss early mathematics – a subject area which many of them believed to be more challenging –  they had developed an understanding of and confidence in the programme format and built some initial trust in their groups. We believe this made them more willing to engage with ideas, experiment in their own settings, and report back honestly about an area that they may previously have felt more daunted by.  

PSED was chosen to be the final module due to the more challenging nature of the topics covered. As it included some emotive topics, this module was the most challenging for many practitioners on a personal level. We believe that having established cohort relationships was beneficial: it enabled participants to build trust and find a safe space in this environment for deeper, richer discussions about sensitive topics, such as caring for vulnerable children or taking care of their own mental and emotional wellbeing.  

Recommendations for policymakers 

Based on our experience of delivering highly effective early years professional development, we have two key recommendations for future programming and policy in this area. We also recognise the need for cost-effective programming, and we believe this is possible if, for example, more expensive elements – such as backfill for time spent on professional development – were not included in future initiatives.  

1. Create networking opportunities for early years practitioners to drive impact through peer learning. In an industry in which many individual practitioners can become isolated after their initial training, the creation of networking and peer learning opportunities can be highly impactful. These opportunities help early years educators to embed good practice, learn from others, and feel a sense of improved support, as well as providing a level of accountability.
2. Include in-depth content on strategically important themes – communication and language, early mathematics, and PSED – in both professional development opportunities and initial training. We believe these three areas are likely to have the most significant impact on the pre-school learning outcomes of young children, and so in-depth content designed to help practitioners support these crucial elements of learning is a vital tool in both ongoing CPD and initial training.  

Find out more about our work in early childhood education, both in the UK and internationally, or contact us here.

References 

Ofsted. (2024). Best start in life part 1: setting the scene. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/best-start-in-life-a-research-review-for-early-years/best-start-in-life-part-1-setting-the-scene

Nutbrown Review. (2012). Foundations for quality: The independent review of early education and childcare qualifications. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a74af28ed915d0e8e39a315/Nutbrown-Review.pdf

Sakr, M., & Bonetti, S. (2021). Continuing professional development for the early years workforce in England since 2015: a synthesis of survey data highlighting commonalities, discrepancies and gaps. Early Years.

Education and Training Foundation. (2018). Training the early years sector: Early years learners, tutors and practitioners. https://www.et-foundation.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ETF18003_EarlyYears_38PP_DIGITAL_FINAL.pdf

Speech and Language UK. The issue. https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/the-issue/

Department for Education. (2025). Earlier support for speech and language for 20,000 children. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/earlier-support-for-speech-and-language-for-20000-children

University College London. (2024). The importance of maths: Evidence from the CLS cohort studies. https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/The-importance-of-maths-CLS-policy-briefing.pdf

Edt. (2025). Early Years Professional Development Programme (Phase Three): Final Evaluation Report. https://edtlive.b-cdn.net/livenew/media/scfkdbyr/eypdp3-edt-evaluation-report-3.pdf

Ofsted. (2022). Education recovery in early years providers: Summer 2022. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-recovery-in-early-years-providers-summer-2022/education-recovery-in-early-years-providers-summer-2022

Ofsted. (2022). The annual report of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2021/22. HC 894 of session 2022-23, p. 20.

Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 on Early Childhood Education & Care. https://post.parliament.uk/impact-of-covid-19-on-early-childhood-education-care/

Dodd, H., Westbrook, J., & Lawrence, P. (2020). Report One: Findings from 1728 parents/carers of 2-4 year olds on stress, child activities, child worries, and need for support. https://emergingminds.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Co-SPYCE-report_1_Final.pdf