Advance your career in early childhood education

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

If you love working in early childhood education, but you’re feeling a little unmotivated lately, or you’re finding yourself craving something new, it could be time to look into advancing your career.

We all need new challenges from time to time to feel inspired, and upskilling your qualifications and progressing in your career is a great way to achieve this. Thankfully, early childhood education offers plenty of opportunities for professional growth and moving into new roles with fresh responsibilities to advance your career.

Whether you want to update your knowledge and skills, improve your job prospects or reignite your passion for early childhood, upskilling is the best way to make a move and advance your career.

Benefits of upskilling in early childhood education

Maybe it is time for you to explore whether it is time to upskill your early childhood education qualifications? Here are just a few reasons why upskilling might be the right choice for you:

Improve job prospects: If you’re on the hunt for a new job, a well-rounded skillset will help you shine above the competition. Standing out in the employment seeking process is important and upskilling your qualifications is a sure-fire way to do it. Your advanced education is also likely to make you more valuable to your employer and improve your job security.

Update knowledge and skills: Information is constantly evolving and staying up to date with the latest knowledge in the early childhood education sector is vital. From infection control to first aid and everything in between, updating your skills makes you feel confident and capable in the workplace.

Get inspired about your work: Feeling motivated about your job is harder some days than others, but upskilling can help. Whether you feel like you are ready to refresh your knowledge, change it up or take on a new range of responsibilities, upskilling can reignite your passion for early childhood education and motivate you in your career.

Advance your career: Seeking growth is natural, both personally and professionally. Maybe it’s time to take your early childhood education career to the next level. From entering a management or leadership position in the sector or even pursuing teaching with a Bachelor degree, there are plenty of options to grow within early childhood education.

Progress your career in early childhood education

An early childhood education career offers many pathways to upskill and advance your career. What they all have in common is requiring the right qualifications to suit your individual goals.

Let’s take a look at some of the courses you might consider when looking to upskill, and where gaining these qualifications could take your career next.

Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care (CHC50121)

Learn the essential skills and knowledge to take up a position as a lead educator. You will feel confident in leading and mentoring others in early childhood education workplaces and be ready to take on more responsibilities in the sector.

Potential career outcomes:

• Room Leader/Lead Educator
• Centre director
• Playgroup supervisor

Diploma of School Age Education and Care (CHC50213)

Gain the necessary competencies to work with school-age children, responsible for running the day-to-day requirements of a before or after school care service or school holiday care program. Learn how to design and implement a curriculum to optimise learning and development outcomes for children.

Potential career outcomes:

• Outside school hours care coordinator
• Outside school hours educator
• Program leader
• Vacation care coordinator
• Service manager
• University pathway to teaching

Upskill to a university teaching degree

For those keen to explore a university pathway as part of their early childhood education career progression, Practical Outcomes learners can fast-track a Bachelor of Education in either Early Childhood Teaching or Early Childhood and Primary Teaching at Swinburne Online.

Once you have graduated from the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care (CHC50113), you can gain credit recognition to enter a Bachelor of Education in either Early Childhood Teaching or Early Childhood and Primary Teaching. Both qualifications are fully accredited by Swinburne University of Technology and the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), with the dual qualification additionally accredited by the Victorian Institute of Teaching(VIT) and the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL).

This university pathway enables you to enhance your career prospects, access a greater number of employment opportunities and gain a higher salary.

You can learn more about our university pathway to Swinburne Online here.

Enhance your skills in first aid and infection control

There are additional qualifications you can do to improve your employability, increase your offering as an employee and stand out in the job market.

In early childhood education, first aid and infection control are crucial to uphold the highest quality standards within a childcare setting and protect children as well as educators and families.

Infection control skill sets

Infection control has always been a priority in early childhood education, and even more so in light of the coronavirus pandemic. An infection control short course will give you the training to prevent and reduce the spread of illness in the workplace.

First aid training

We can help you upskill in first aid to ensure you are up to date and have the skills to minimise the severity of injury and even save lives.

Your early childhood education career has a variety of pathways and directions to follow — and we can help you no matter which way you want to go.

Speak to the Practical Outcomes team about how we can help you to advance your career in early childhood education and achieve your goals.