Early Years CPD: Free Training to Spot Early Literacy Struggles

Finding high-quality, evidence-based early years literacy training can be a challenge. When you have a busy classroom of young children, you need training that is practical, free, and easy to access.

Fortunately, the Department for Education (DfE) provides official, fully funded professional development pathways specifically designed to help early years educators, childminders, and SENCOs spot early communication and literacy struggles. These resources focus on early speech, language, and phonological awareness, giving you actionable strategies to support your children immediately.

The Challenge of Finding Quality Early Years CPD

Early years educators are often flooded with training offers. It is difficult to know which courses are based on sound research and which ones are a waste of your limited time.

High-quality professional development should not cost your school a fortune. It should focus on the foundational blocks of literacy: speech, language, and pre-reading skills. Identifying these struggles early is the best way to prevent long-term reading difficulties.

If you want to know more about what teachers should look for at this stage, you can read our guide on whether your nursery teacher is trained to spot reading struggles.

Official DfE Support and Professional Development Pathways

To help educators access reliable training, the DfE offers structured support. According to the official guidance, Early years continuing professional development and support, there are several free, high-quality programmes available to practitioners in England.

These programmes are designed to build your confidence in teaching early reading and identifying speech and language delays. They include:

• The Early Years Professional Development Programme (EYPDP): This training focuses heavily on early communication, language, and early mathematics.
• Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs: These local hubs share evidence-based practices and provide advice, funding, and networking opportunities for nurseries and childminders.
• Online Training Modules: Accessible, bite-sized learning modules that you can complete at your own pace.

Using these official pathways ensures that your staff are trained in methods that align with current national standards and inspections.

Focusing on Speech, Language, and Pre-Reading

Before a child can learn to decode letters on a page, they must develop strong oral language and phonological awareness. This means being able to hear, identify, and play with sounds in spoken words.

Free CPD options through the Stronger Practice Hubs focus deeply on these pre-reading skills. To explore how these local networks operate and how they can assist your setting, see our detailed post on Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs and speech and language help.

When choosing your next training module, look for topics that cover:

1. Phonological awareness: Rhyming, alliteration, and segmenting sounds orally.
2. Oral language environments: How to structure adult-child interactions to expand vocabulary.
3. Early identification: Using simple, non-intrusive observation tools to spot children who are falling behind their peers.

If you are reviewing your setting's current approach to these foundational skills, you may also find our article on whether your nursery is doing enough for pre-reading skills helpful.

Adjust Your Classroom Environment by Monday

You do not have to wait until you finish a long training course to make a difference. You can use simple, evidence-based adjustments in your classroom starting next week:

• Create a sound-rich environment: Dedicate ten minutes daily to oral wordplay, rhyming games, and clapping syllables. Do this without any printed text.
• Reduce background noise: Young children with speech and language difficulties struggle to filter out background noise. Turn off background music during free play to help them focus on human voices.
• Use visual timetables: Support communication by pairing spoken instructions with clear, simple pictures of your daily routine.

Supporting Every Learner

As children transition from pre-reading to early phonics, some will need extra, highly structured practice. While classroom adjustments and high-quality teaching are the foundation, targeted tools can offer additional support.

Our app, Lexy, is designed to assist young learners with multisensory phonics practice. It is built on structured literacy principles to help children build reading fluency at their own pace. It is completely free for up to five students, making it an easy tool to trial in your classroom alongside your new training strategies.

Investing your time in free, official CPD ensures that your practice remains grounded in what works best for young children. By focusing on early speech and language, you can identify struggles early and set every child on the path to reading success.