Early Childhood Employer Partners are essential to the success of the High School Early Childhood Apprenticeship program. By opening your classrooms and programs to student apprentices, you play a direct role in developing the next generation of early childhood professionals while strengthening your own learning community.
As a partner, you serve as both mentor and model—offering hands-on learning opportunities, sharing your expertise, and helping students build the skills, professionalism, and confidence required in early childhood settings.
Here, you’ll find resources to support onboarding, supervision, communication, and evaluation of apprentices, along with guidance on expectations and best practices. These tools are intended to make your role clear, manageable, and rewarding while ensuring a positive experience for both your staff and the students you mentor.
Together, we are building a strong, sustainable workforce by connecting education with real-world practice. Your partnership makes it possible for students to learn, grow, and contribute in meaningful ways—while helping your program invest in its future.
-
Creating space for collaboration and shared learning is key to strengthening your apprenticeship program. A Community of Practice offers employer partners the opportunity to bring mentors together to reflect, problem-solve, and grow in their role supporting apprentices.
These resources are designed to spark meaningful conversations, build consistency across mentors, and support continuous improvement in how apprentices are guided and developed.
By leading a Community of Practice, you foster a culture of learning within your program—one where mentors feel supported, ideas are shared, and everyone is working together to ensure high-quality experiences for apprentices and the young children they serve.
Here is the order of topics:
- Introduction and Overview
- Mentoring and Building Relationships
- Who We Are and What We Bring to the Mentor/Apprentice
- Preparing for the Mentoring Relationship
- Negotiating the Relationship: Having Difficult Conversations
- Encouraging Growth in the Apprentice
- Wrapping Up the Relationship
- Reviewing Lessons Learned, Ideas for Future Mentoring