The launch of NCFE's new Education and Early Years Skills Collective creates a space for practitioners, employers, sector leaders, and training providers to share insight on the future of the sector. 

Through collaborative discussion and the exchange of ideas, the Collective explores the opportunities and challenges shaping the education and early years workforce. 

The Collective's inaugural paper highlights several themes shaping workforce discussions across the sector, including leadership development, professional recognition, continuous learning, and workforce sustainability.  

One theme connected many of the discussions: how organisations can create environments where people continue learning long after their initial qualification. Mentoring, coaching, and supervision emerged as important tools for making that happen. 

Why supervision matters 

Supervision is already recognised as an important part of effective practice in early years settings. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets out clear expectations regarding supervision. It also highlights the role of supervision in supporting practitioners, encouraging professional development and creating opportunities to discuss challenges, identify solutions and improve practice.  

At its best, supervision goes beyond compliance, helping to foster a culture of reflection, continuous improvement and shared responsibility for positive outcomes for children and families. 

What's the difference between coaching and mentoring? 

Coaching and mentoring share many characteristics, but their focus differs. Coaching often centres on helping individuals explore challenges, reflect, and identify solutions for themselves. Mentoring draws more heavily on experience, with mentors sharing insights and guidance gained through similar professional roles. 

Effective coaching and mentoring are built on a number of shared principles: 

• Relationships: establishing and maintaining a professional relationship, a psychologically safe space to be our authentic self.  
• Building trust: being consistent, being reliable, establishing boundaries and expectations. 
• Communication: active listening, motivational open communication, reflection and discussion, validation of feelings, sensitive and responsive constructive feedback. 
• Record keeping: schedule or timetabling, maintaining outlined notes, prioritisation of goal settings and action planning, for example; specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound (SMART). 

Many practitioners experience coaching and mentoring informally through induction, collaborative projects, supervision or one-to-one meetings. Whatever form it takes, effective supervision should be regular, participatory and productive. 

Coaching and mentoring are rewarding roles, but they also carry responsibility. Supporting others can be emotionally demanding, making supervision equally important for those providing guidance. 

For coaches and mentors, supervision can help maintain perspective, encourage reflection, and strengthen the overall quality of support being provided. This arguably strengthens team ethos. 

What does effective supervision look like? 

Effective supervision is most valuable when it is consistent, purposeful, and rooted in professional growth rather than compliance alone.  

According to the health and care professions council, supervision has many proven benefits: support professional practice, reflective practice and CPD, to improving wellbeing and quality practice. 

NCFE’s Professional Practice Framework provides a useful framework for reflective practice and professional development, while the Skills for Care supervision template offers a practical structure that settings can adapt.  

Research from the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy identifies five key ingredients of effective supervision: support, trust, respect, time, and investment. Together, these create the conditions for practitioners to feel valued, supported, and able to develop professionally. 

Mentoring and supervision can contribute to a sense of belonging and connection. In this way it can boost retention, giving staff a voice, building trusting sincere and open relationships where staff can share how they are coping and managing their own professional development.  

How organisations are putting this into practice 

Rebecca Spry, National Education, Learning and Development Manager, Minibugs Nurseries 

For Rebecca, investing in people is central to delivering high-quality provision. "At Minibugs, we believe that the quality of our provision is only ever as strong as the people behind it. That's why investing in our staff isn't just a priority – it's at the heart of everything we do. It lays the foundation for our mission – Together we love to learn, play and grow."  

Recognising the ongoing challenges around recruitment and retention, Minibugs introduced bespoke staff competencies, structured development pathways and leadership programmes designed to support practitioners throughout their careers. Mentoring sits at the heart of this approach. 

"Through meaningful, consistent mentoring relationships, staff are given the opportunity to reflect on their practice, build confidence and feel supported in a way that is both personal and purposeful," says Rebecca. 

Supervision also plays an important role, helping the organisation identify both individual and wider workforce development needs. 

"We use supervisions to identify patterns, trends and wider themes across the team," says Rebecca. "This allows us to reflect not only on individual development, but also on what we, as an organisation, may need to adapt or strengthen to ensure our staff can truly thrive." 

For Rebecca, the link between workforce development and quality is clear: "By placing people at the centre, Minibugs is building a resilient, future-focused workforce, because investing in people is an investment in quality and long-term success." 

Jodie Lucas, Director and Manager, Little Chestnuts Pre-School Corringham and Purfleet 

Jodie used NCFE's Professional Practice Framework (PPF) to strengthen coaching and mentoring within her setting and has seen a positive impact on both practitioner development and teaching quality. 

Reflecting on colleagues who completed the evidence-based Level 3 programme, she explained: "Both colleagues are now demonstrating more effective in-the-moment responses, and the overall quality of their teaching has improved considerably." 

For Jodie, coaching and mentoring are already embedded within everyday practice because of the impact they have on staff development and children's outcomes. 

"Coaching and mentoring are already deeply embedded within the Little Chestnuts implementation model, as we know that high-quality coaching directly improves staff practice and, in turn, children's outcomes," she says. 

The experience has also strengthened her own leadership practice. 

"Supporting my learners through their Level 3 has enabled me to refine and extend my coaching skills even further," says Jodie. "It has reinforced the importance of reflective dialogue, targeted feedback, and modelling best practice – all of which contribute to a stronger, more confident team." 

"The evidence-based route is certainly a programme I will use again, and I am grateful to NCFE for their support throughout." 

Supporting the people who support children and young people 

The discussions captured in the first Education and Early Years Skills Collective paper suggest that professional development isn't something that happens at the start of a career. It should be woven throughout it. 

Mentoring, coaching, and supervision are not new ideas. But when given the time and attention they deserve, they can help create workplaces where practitioners continue learning, build confidence in their practice, and see a future for themselves in the sector. 

As the conversation continues through the Education and Early Years Skills Collective, these approaches are likely to remain an important part of how the sector develops and retains talent. 

Learn more about the Education and Early Years Skills Collective and read the first paper in full.

Learn more: Read our Education and Early Years Skills Collective's first paper now