Guidance to the All Wales induction framework (AWIF) for early years and childcare managers

The All Wales induction framework (AWIF) for early years and childcare managers covers the knowledge and practice you should demonstrate as a new manager.

The Welsh Government’s ambition is to develop a skilled childcare and play workforce that’s highly regarded as a profession and a career of choice, and recognised for the vital role the sector plays in supporting our children’s development.

As part of wider training support, the Welsh Government’s Childcare, Play and Early Years Workforce Plan  expects every early years setting to provide an induction for new workers. The induction should help workers understand child-centred practice and the values needed to work in early years.

Under the National Minimum Standards for Regulated Childcare for Children up to the age of 12 years workers must complete, or be working towards, induction training relevant to their role, including the All Wales induction framework.

A well thought out and thorough induction has a positive impact on the quality of the service provided.

Induction makes sure you understand the importance of child-centred practice and the values that underpin working in early years and childcare. It also helps you settle-in and become more effective in your role.

Induction makes sure you know what your role is, as well as the limits of the role. It can increase employee commitment and job satisfaction and has a positive effect on reducing staff turnover.

The AWIF for early years and childcare managers is a set of standards taken from the content of the mandatory learning outcomes of the Level 4 Preparing for Leadership and Management and the Level 5 Leadership and Management of Children’s Care, Play, Learning and Development qualification.

It sets out the knowledge and practice you should demonstrate over time, as an early years and childcare manager who is new to the role.

There are two parts to the Induction framework:

Part A - knowledge based induction standards

The knowledge induction standards cover the breadth of responsibilities for the leadership and management of early years and childcare services. This includes:

• leading child-centred practice

• theoretical frameworks for leadership and management

• understanding how to lead and manage effective team performance.

Part B - competency-based induction standards

The competency-based induction standards cover a wide range of areas such as professional practice, and leading and managing:

• child-centred practice

• effective team performance

• the quality of workplace/setting

• practice that promotes safeguarding of children

• health, safety and security.

All early years and childcare managers who are new in post should complete the AWIF as a general induction to their role.

If you’re an experienced or qualified manager, we would expect you to already have some evidence of knowledge and practice through the qualifications you’ve already completed or through previous employment, but some managers may have less experience.

We recommend that all managers complete the AWIF within 12 months of starting a new role. This will provide an opportunity to embed your learning in practice and update your knowledge of legislative frameworks, evidence informed practice and specialist areas.

You should complete both part A and part B. This should be agreed with your employer.

Where possible, you should be allocated a mentor and/or coach who can provide objective advice and guidance, constructive feedback and help you grow and develop.

Please note that the individuals who have a recognised degree listed on the Flying Start managers qualification framework will only need to complete part B. This is because universities have since updated their course modules and content to align with the Level 4 Preparing for Leadership and Management criteria, which is required for the Flying Start Manager role. Graduates must then demonstrate their Level 5 Leadership and Management skills by completing the competency skills progress logs (part B) of the AWIF for Early Years and Childcare Managers within the first year of starting their managerial role, which is also required for the Flying Start Manager role.

Progress logs part A and progress logs part B cover all the sections in the framework. You should use these to note the evidence you’ve drawn on to confirm you’ve achieved the induction standard.

The evidence includes:

• qualification completion

• supervision

• records

• observation of practice

• witness testimonies.

Signing off progress logs

Each section of the progress logs should be dated and signed by you and the person who has made the judgement that each induction standard has been achieved.

The person making the judgement must:

• have a working knowledge of the induction standards they’re judging

• be occupationally competent in the area they’re judging

• be familiar with your practice.

This could be a range of different people, such as the Responsible Individual, an allocated mentor, a practice development lead or another manager overseeing your work.

Signing off the completion certificate

Wherever possible, the certificate of successful completion should be signed off by the Responsible Individual and you. The Responsible Individual must be able to provide assurance of a robust process which has confirmed you’ve met the induction standards. They don’t need to sign-off evidence of each standard in the progress logs, but they should sign-off the overall completion certificate.

Sometimes, it’s not possible for the Responsible Individual to sign off completion of the Induction framework, for example in small organisations where the Responsible Individual is the same person as the manager.

In these cases, the certificate of completion should be signed off by someone inside or outside of the organisation who meets the criteria for making a judgement about the induction standards.

The person should be a professional you’ve known in a professional capacity while completing the AWIF and they must not be related to, or have any personal relationship with you in any way.

As the AWIF is made up of an agreed set of standards for early years and childcare managers, you can also use it as a tool to support you if you hold older qualifications or need to upskill or update your practice.

Employers can also use it as part of the appraisal process, to check competence and to make sure you’re provided with the right support to develop the knowledge and skills needed for your role. We have a CPD toolkit to help you think about this.

The Qualification Specification for the Level 4 Preparing for Leadership and Management and the Level 5 Management Practice of Children’s Care, Play, Learning and Development has a unit for each section of the AWIF. We’ve taken the mandatory learning outcomes from each unit and used these as the induction standards.

Within the units, each induction standard has a set of assessment criteria linked to it. We don’t expect you to be taken through each of these in detail, but they will give you an idea of the types of knowledge and behaviours you’re expected to have evidence of.

You can also use the AWIF knowledge workbook, which we’ve developed to help you cover the gaps in your knowledge. There are a variety of activities you can use to show you have the required knowledge.

You can also access the Competence skills guidebook that has been developed to provide examples of how you can gather practical pieces of evidence to demonstrate your managerial skills throughout your role.

If you have a question or if you can't find what you’re looking for, get in touch.

• Progress logs part A

• Progress logs part B

• Part A: Knowledge workbook

• Part B: Competence skills guidebook

• Range of evidence for the All Wales induction framework (AWIF) for early years and childcare

• Certificate of successful completion