Our Work with Apprenticeships
Apprenticeship programs offer the early childhood workforce the opportunity to earn credentials and degrees through meaningful coursework combined with robust on-the-job learning experiences. This pathway is increasingly recognized as a promising strategy for credentialing and retaining the early childhood workforce. When designed well, these programs have the potential to be transformative by deepening educator expertise and laying the groundwork necessary for compensation parity—two key drivers for strengthening quality, addressing systemic inequities, and realizing the potential of early care and education.
Bank Street’s Learning Starts At Birth initiative has released several publications on apprenticeship, as well as a cost calculator tool, to help leaders plan robust programs. To further impact the design and implementation of early educator apprenticeships at scale, our team engaged a Community of Practice, working with apprenticeship program leaders from across the country and making recommendations around considerations for such programs.
Additionally, Learning Starts At Birth is excited to announce our new Apprenticeship Action Research Fellowship, which supports leaders who run apprenticeship programs in identifying and applying new approaches. The fellowship is currently accepting applications and will begin in September 2023.
