How to become a nursery teacher

A nursery teacher plans and leads learning for children under five, mostly three- and four-year-olds, under the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). In England two qualifications lead to the job. Qualified teacher status (QTS) lets you teach in any state school and puts you on the teachers’ pay ranges. Early years teacher status (EYTS) is a graduate award for the birth to five age range, accepted widely by private and voluntary nurseries, which set their own pay. Which one you need depends on where you want to work.

EYTS and QTS side by side

	EYTS	QTS
Age range	Birth to five	Training is for an age phase (often 3 to 7 or 5 to 11), but QTS lets you teach any age
Main employers	Private, voluntary and independent nurseries, and some schools	All state schools, including maintained nursery schools and nursery classes
Pay	Set by the employer	Teachers’ pay ranges in maintained schools; many academies follow them
Statutory induction	None	Two years as an early career teacher
Pension	Workplace pension through auto-enrolment, unless the employer offers more	Teachers’ Pension Scheme

QTS travels further. A maintained school is not required to treat an EYTS holder as a qualified teacher or pay them on the teachers’ scales. If you think you might later want to teach reception or key stage 1, or move into a primary school, QTS keeps more doors open. Our guide to QTS explains what it covers.

Maintained nursery schools and private nurseries

Maintained nursery schools are standalone state schools for under-fives, run by a headteacher and funded through the local authority. There are fewer of them than there used to be, and they tend to cluster in particular councils. They usually employ qualified teachers with QTS and often run services for families alongside the nursery itself.

Nursery classes attached to primary schools are more common. Here the nursery teacher is part of the school’s staff, works the school year and is often line-managed by an early years lead who also covers reception.

Private, voluntary and independent (PVI) nurseries and pre-schools deliver many of the government-funded hours. All three- and four-year-olds in England can get 570 funded hours a year (15 hours a week), and working parents can get 30 hours a week for 38 weeks from the age of nine months. Our guide to funded childcare hours sets out who qualifies. In a PVI setting a graduate with EYTS or QTS may lead a room or the whole setting’s teaching, with hours and holidays closer to an ordinary all-year job.

Ratios and why a teacher changes them

The EYFS sets minimum ratios of adults to children, and they get tighter the younger the children are. For three- and four-year-olds the framework allows more children per adult when a teacher with QTS, EYTS or another approved graduate early years qualification is working directly with them. In nursery classes run by schools, the framework expects a school teacher to be working with the children.

Nurseries advertise for graduate early years teachers partly for this reason, because a qualified lead can change how a setting is staffed. For babies and two-year-olds the ratios do not loosen with a teacher present. The current ratios are in the EYFS framework on GOV.UK, and they have changed in recent years, so check the latest version.

Routes into nursery teaching

For QTS, the usual routes are a primary PGCE or SCITT course with an early years specialism (often 3 to 7), School Direct, a postgraduate teaching apprenticeship or an undergraduate degree with QTS. You need a degree for the postgraduate routes, plus GCSEs at grade 4 (C) or above in English, maths and science. Primary and early years courses are not on the 2026/27 bursary list, so most trainees on fee-paying courses rely on student finance. The teacher training routes guide compares the options.

For EYTS, you take early years initial teacher training (EYITT). Graduates can train full-time at a university or other provider, or on an employment-based route while working in a nursery. There is also an undergraduate route and an assessment-only route for graduates with substantial experience. The same GCSE requirements apply. Funding for EYITT is set by the DfE and changes, so check the current position on GOV.UK before you apply.

What the job involves

The EYFS has seven areas of learning, and you plan play-based activities that cover them indoors and outside. Much of the work is observation: noticing what each child can do, recording it, and planning the next step. You work closely with early years practitioners and teaching assistants, and in most settings you lead them.

Each child has a key person, and parents expect regular contact. You spot early signs of speech delay or special educational needs and work with the SENCO and outside services. Safeguarding training is part of the job from day one. It is physical work too: on the floor, outdoors in most weathers, and dealing with toileting and accidents.

Pay in 2026/27

With QTS in a maintained school, you are paid on the teachers’ main pay range. From 1 September 2026 it runs from £34,069 to £46,940 outside London and from £41,729 to £54,131 in inner London, after a 3.5 per cent award. These rates are in the draft 2026 pay and conditions document, expected in force around early November 2026 and backdated to 1 September. The teacher pay scales page has every point. You pay into the Teachers’ Pension Scheme at 7.4 per cent on a salary up to £36,198.99.

PVI nurseries set their own pay for EYTS holders and graduate leads, and it is often below the teachers’ ranges. The legal floor for anyone aged 21 or over is the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour. Ask about holiday, pension and whether non-contact time for planning is built into the week. The take-home pay calculator shows what a salary means after tax.

Getting started

Spend some time in a nursery class and, if you can, a PVI nursery, because the two feel different to work in. You will need an enhanced DBS check with a children’s barred list check, which costs £41.00 in England and Wales from 5 October 2026. School posts are advertised on the DfE’s Teaching Vacancies service and listed under teaching jobs. EYTS is an England award; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland organise early years qualifications differently, so check locally if you plan to work there.