Training for early years practitioners

If you are working with children at an early years setting and want to learn more about potty training, we offer a course that will help you and your staff to feel more confident helping children and their families with this important development milestone.

At ERIC,  we’re on a mission to deliver the best education and learning for all those who support children and young people, including health, social care, early years and education professionals.

This accessible, thorough, and affordable eLearning course has been developed specifically with early years practitioners in mind, and covers the simple 3-step approach to potty training that we have adopted at ERIC. It’s delivered via informative and educational videos from our specialist continence nurses, bite-sized, easy-to-digest information and quizzes. At the end, participants receive a certificate confirming their completion of the course.

  • If you already have a place and want to start or continue a course, please go to the ERIC online training site.
  • If you would like to book new places on an e-learning course, please use the booking form below.

ERIC’s Lets Go Potty method originated from collaboration with Paediatric Research Nurse Rebecca Mottram in 2021. We are grateful to Rebecca for sharing her research and expertise which informed this work.

What to expect

This course has four modules, each lasting around 15 minutes. The course can be completed in full or the modules can be undertaken separately to suit learners requirements.

The modules will explain the 3-step approach to potty training, adopted by ERIC, and how to apply it in practice. Each module is delivered in in the form of a video presented by ERIC’s specialist children’s nurse, Brenda Cheer.

  • Module One: Step 1 – Preparation
  • Module Two: Step 2 – Practice
  • Module Three: Step 3 – Stopping using nappies
  • Module Four: Children with additional needs

At the end of each module there are six questions to answer. Get all the questions right to gain a certificate, to show you’ve completed the course.

You will also be asked several questions at the beginning and end of the course, so that we can evaluate the effectiveness of the training, and the impact it may have had on your practice.

Why it's important

1 in 9 children in the UK are affected by a bowel or bladder problem. A 2024 report by early years charity Kindred found that 1 in 4 children in England and Wales are now starting school not toilet trained. The average age that a child is now toilet trained has risen significantly in recent years.

Research shows, however, that the best age for a child to stop wearing nappies is between 18 and 30 months.

Potty or toilet training can be a challenging time for families and sometimes, they don’t know where to turn for professional, specialist advice. It can be difficult for early years practitioners to manage, too.

The Let’s Go Potty approach, adopted by ERIC, is an evidence-based approach that helps a child to learn to use the potty independently and stop wearing nappies in 3 stages – making the process easier for everyone involved.

Learning this approach through advice from a specialist nurse will help early years practitioners to communicate with families on the importance of timely, evidence-based potty training, to help families through this milestone stage in their child’s development.

Objectives

  • To increase confidence in talking to families about starting potty/ toilet training including those with additional needs.
  • To know which ERIC resources are appropriate to share with families to support the child’s potty/toilet training journey.
  • To develop an understanding of the importance of healthy bladders and bowels, and the impact this has on successful potty/toilet training.
  • To be aware of ERIC’s Lets Go Potty approach, and the benefits of adopting this in your setting.
  • To understand the importance of having a Potty Training Policy in your setting, to ensure consistency with all children and all practitioners.
  •  To improve outcomes for all children, including promoting bladder and bowel health, learning independence, and contributing to school readiness.

Costs

ERIC is keen to make this course accessible and affordable for as many settings as possible. As a charity, however, we also need to cover our costs, and so our pricing reflects the excellent value and service you will receive as part of this course.

  • Up to 20 licences: £18 per person
  • 21 - 100 licences: £16 per person
  • 100+ licences: £14 per person