Annual Salary
£27,000 to £40,000
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
Swap to Childcare or Training or go back to all job sectors
Swap to Childcare or Training or go back to all job sectors
Early years teachers are specialists in early childhood development and work with children up to the age of 5.
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
You could work: between 8am and 6pm; on a rota
There will be
4.3% more Early years teacher jobs in 2027.
As an early years teacher, you'll:
You may need to wear a uniform.
You could work in a nursery or at a school.
Your working environment may be physically and emotionally demanding.
You can get into this job through:
You'll need to get early years teacher status (EYTS) and meet the teachers' standards by completing a course in early years initial teacher training (EYITT).
There are several ways to do this:
You can also have your teaching skills assessed over 3 months to make sure you meet the teachers' standards. For this route, you must be a graduate with a lot of work experience across the 0 to 5 age range, and have knowledge of key stages 1 and 2 in schools.
Early years teacher status qualifies you to teach children up to age 5. If you want to teach older children, or teach in a primary school, you'll usually need to get qualified teacher status (QTS).
You'll usually need:
You could work your way into this role by starting as nursery worker or teaching assistant and doing a part-time degree in childhood studies or child development.
You'll usually need experience of working with children and young people.
You can get this through:
You'll need to:
You can search for jobs in schools through the Teaching Vacancies service.
You can find out more about teaching in early years from Get Into Teaching and Early Years Careers.
Once qualified, you could:move into management of a nursery or group of nurseries; work as a supply teacher; do further training to become a primary school teacher or play therapist; move into teaching early years courses at university
You'll need: