This article is concerned with the attitudes and perceptions of a group of early years practitioners, without qualified teacher status, who were offered the opportunity to join a university in service course. Within this paper we reflect upon our realisation that pedagogy was the key to accessing meaningful learning experiences for our participants. Furthermore we suggest that a pedagogy for access courses for early years practitioners seeking further qualifications needs to be one that connects with the individual in a holistic way and which is sensitive to and values the contribution each individual offers to the learning experience.