As well providing a career that brings a sense of purpose to your life, early childhood education offers many other advantages including excellent job prospects, a career with variety and opportunities to upskill and advance.

Why choose an early childhood education career?

To work in early childhood education means helping to shape a bright, thriving future for children. Your input while children are in your care can support positive outcomes for their lives now and well into the future.

More than ever before, early childhood education and its workforce is being recognised for its valuable contribution to communities and families. Increased uptake combined with Government funding and support makes it a worthwhile sector to embark on a rewarding career. Plus, there are many more reasons to consider an early childhood education career:

Giving children the best start in life

Every child deserves the best start in life. They deserve to have people around them who care about them, value them and are committed to helping them grow and reach their full potential. As an early childhood educator, you can play a key role in children’s development taking a play-based learning approach that leans into children’s interests and scaffolds their learning.

Rewarding and meaningful work

As an educator you transfer essential values, knowledge and skills to educate and inspire the next generations. The work you undertake each day as an educator makes a genuine difference for others. Your commitment to your work can never go unnoticed as you are helping to shape children’s lives as they undergo most critical stage of development. Seeing the children in your care grow and progress offers a sense of fulfilment seldom found in the workplace.

A career that is truly fun

Using your imagination every day, getting involved with painting and creating, singing and dancing, playing and laughing with children — it probably goes without saying that a career in early childhood education is truly enjoyable. There aren’t many career paths where you can say that you go and have fun every day, but as an educator that is exactly what you get to experience.

Plenty of opportunities

The early childhood education sector is growing and needs high quality educators to meet demand. This means excellent job prospects for qualified individuals who are dedicated to caring for children and supporting their development and wellbeing.

How to get started in early childhood education

Making the first move toward becoming a highly skilled educator who can provide engaging learning experiences for children can set you on a path to a fulfilling career.

If you are just starting out in the sector, you will need to enrol in the Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care. This qualification is the entry level pre-requisite to commence work in the sector and kick off a fantastic career.

This 12-month course covers all the fundamentals of working in early childhood education and can be undertaken as an online course or via workplace training. It includes a practical placement component to ensure that you get essential hands-on skills and experience. This helps you to graduate feeling confident and capable.

The early childhood education sector offers the opportunity to get your qualified via online courses. This means you can study via distance mode. Alternatively, you could consider workplace training mode which involves working in the sector while studying. Online training is flexible so you can make it work within your own individual life commitments while gaining your qualifications.

Career paths to explore in ECEC

With a Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care you can access a variety of career starting points educating and nurturing young children.

With this entry level qualification, you might explore a career in a role such as:

• Educator in a long day care setting
• Kindergarten assistant
• Family day care educator
• Before or after school care educator

To upskill and progress in early childhood education, the Certificate III level qualification is required. From here you can access further educational opportunities, such as the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care and perhaps look at a pathway to a university qualification. These can open doors for your career to advance in roles including:

• Room leader in long day care setting
• Centre director
• Kindergarten teacher
• Primary school teacher

With any position supporting children, you can know that you’re helping to lay the foundation for children’s education and future.

Learn more about Selmar’s Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care

Ready to get started? We have created the Ultimate Guide to a Career in Early Childhood Education — you can download it for free right here.

Have questions about the sector and pursuing an early childhood education career? Get in touch with Practical Outcomes.

When it comes to providing your early childhood team with training opportunities, whether it’s to freshen up their knowledge and ensure best practice, or to support them with upskilling, choosing a training provider is more important than you may realise.

Taking the time to make sure that your chosen training provider is offering the highest quality training for your sector can make all the difference to the outcomes for the individuals in your team, and in turn the outcomes for your organisation.

Highly skilled educators raise industry standards

To maintain, and ideally raise, a high standard of care in the early childhood education sector, quality training is important for all staff members.

In early childhood education, exceptional training produces exceptional educators — vital to nurturing children through their most crucial period of development. Ongoing training for educators ensures services are delivering the highest standard of care for families.

Quality training also contributes to a centre’s ability to meet the requirements set by the National Quality Framework and Early Years Learning Framework, which means a better chance of achieving a high NQS rating when it comes time to be assessed.

High-quality training provider for high-quality educators

When you commit to training from a high-quality provider, you can be confident that you and your team will maximise the outcomes from your training. A high-quality training institution ensures well-trained individuals and skilled workers for employers, achieved through a combination of crucial factors for an approach to training that is second to none.

First and foremost, learners must be supported. Whether it’s the first course they’ve undertaken or they’re experienced with vocational training, it’s important that learners who are undertaking studies feel they can reach out for assistance as needed. Support isn’t one size fits all — tailored support means that there is the right kind of help available for those who require it, from general coursework questions to literacy and numeracy support.

For training to be high quality it should be designed with the real world in mind. Course material that is relevant and up-to-date to reflect current best practices in the sector is vital. Practical placements incorporated into the course ensure that those new to early childhood education are able to gain on-the-job experience through their training journey.

An effective training experience doesn’t just focus on practical skills — it marries them with human qualities and interpersonal skills. These ‘soft skills’ are transferable and valued greatly in early childhood education. Learners should be encouraged to reflect on and develop their ability in areas such as communication, empathy, patience and adaptability.

Ultimately, high-quality training providers strive to develop job-ready graduates who enter or advance employment skilled and with confidence. For employers and organisations, this means a productive workforce that is capable of making sure your business shines.

Recognising high-quality training for your sector

If you’re an employer looking to support your team in professional development, upskilling or any sort of training endeavours, it’s important to know how to tell a quality training provider from the rest.

There are a few elements that will help you identify a high-quality training provider:

Quality providers should offer nationally accredited courses

Any training your team undertakes should be nationally accredited or nationally recognised. This means the courses meet established industry requirements as per the national regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA). Ensure your team’s training is delivered by a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and that the course is meeting nationally approved quality standards.

Look for specialists in your sector

Some RTOs specialise while others provide courses in just about every sector. If you’re looking for the best of the best, an RTO that is a specialist in courses for your sector is more likely to deliver a higher standard of training. You want a training provider who knows your sector inside and out and can understand your organisation’s unique needs and desired outcomes.

Research their training outcomes

Consider what training outcomes the training provider emphasises. You want your employees to graduate with more than just a piece of paper. Qualifications should entail an individual graduating with practical skills, in-depth industry knowledge, understanding and confidence. Is their training competency-based with sector-relevant outcomes to help your team and business flourish? Your desired outcomes and the training provider’s outcomes should be aligned.

How we help employers and early learning businesses

Practical Outcomes helps individual learners to reach their early childhood career goals. We also support organisations within the early childhood education sector to reach their business goals and shape a productive, highly skilled, confident workforce.

We achieve this by committing to key factors that maximise outcomes and ensure we are a consistently high-quality training provider:

Sector experts in early childhood education

We only provide training for the early childhood education sector. By limiting our course offering to early childhood, we have been able to dedicate all of our time to understanding everything there is to know about the childhood education sector and what it means to thrive as an employee or a business. Our team are sector experts with a wealth of experience committed to this meaningful sector.

Experienced trainers

Our trainers are sector-experienced, with their own career history working within the early childhood education sector they now train in. They have stories to share from their journeys as well as the expertise required to deliver top-tier support to learners.

Practical skills and theoretical learning

The value of training doesn’t only lie with one approach but the way the theory and practical education can be combined and applied. We ensure that our learners get support with both practical and theoretical training, and make the connections between the two to give their best when it comes time to learn on the job.

Strong relationships with employers

When we support organisations with training their team members, we make it a priority to get to know the business and its needs. Our team works with employers to find out what they want to accomplish and we create a training plan to make sure needs are met.

Flexible training delivery modes

Balancing life and work can be tricky, let alone when you throw studying into the mix. With flexibility, support and understanding, Practical Outcomes learners are able to study while they work and gain a fulfilling training experience.

For quality early childhood education training, choose Practical Outcomes

If you’re ready to level up your workforce and see your organisation flourish, get in touch with Practical Outcomes. We can work with you and your team members to help you achieve your goals in the valuable early childhood education sector.

To help you, the Commonwealth Government’s ‘Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements’ (BAC) wage subsidy program has been extended for 12 months. The program enables eligible Victorian employers to receive a 50% wage subsidy, of up to $7,000 every three months, to hire new apprentices and trainees, including those that previously lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic.

Apprentices and trainees finish their higher-learning journey equipped with practical skills and a formal education that will add value and bring new skills into to your workplace, especially if they are trained by experienced and quality trainers like Practical Outcomes.  

An Australian Apprenticeship helps to: 

• Bring new skills into the business to increase your competitiveness 
• Prevent future skills shortages and safeguard your business 
• Access Government funding, incentives and rebates if eligible 
• Train staff to suit the unique needs of your business 
• Drive a culture of success within your business 

Employers will need to employ an apprentice or trainee under an approved training contract and enrol the apprentice or trainee in formal training in order to claim the subsidy. Payments will be made quarterly in arrears, with first claims for the subsidy available from 1 January 2021. 

Eligible employers will also be able to claim the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements quarterly payments in arrears at the following effect dates:  

• 1 January 2021, 50% of gross wages paid from 5 October 2020 to 31 December 2020 and up to a maximum of $7,000. 
• 1 April 2021, 50% of gross wages paid from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021 and up to a maximum of $7,000. 

The 100,000 cap on places has also been removed to provide additional support to employers and Group Training Organisations. 

If you would like to discuss how we can help you facilitate your traineeship, please contact Ellie Shay at Practical Outcomes.

From spending your days working with children as young as newborns, to supporting literacy, numeracy and school readiness in children who are about to enter primary school, the variety of options in the early childhood sector make it appealing for those who like to have access to a range of career pathways to explore down the track or progress their career at their own pace.

To really appreciate the potential of an early childhood education career, it’s important to have a firm understanding of what roles are available and the qualifications you might need to get there.

The right course for early childhood education career you want

There are a number of qualifications you can seek out to gain employment in early childhood education. The roles available to you for your career within the sector will vary depending on the qualification you choose to undertake. Let’s take a look at which positions you might explore for your career based on each qualification. With many options available, you can create an early childhood education pathway to match your career goals short-term and long-term.

Career pathways via Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care

The CHC30121 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care can lead to many fun, meaningful and engaging career pathways. Some of the roles you might find yourself working in with this qualification include:

• Early childhood educator

An early childhood educator is the broad term for a person who works in an early childhood setting. They often work with children right through from birth to school age. Taking a play-based learning approach, early childhood educators nurture children as they explore and learn in the world, following the National Quality Framework and recording children’s development.

• Family day care educator

Family day care is a type of care provided from the educators’ home. This is a great opportunity to work from home, giving you the flexibility to choose your own hours. As a family day care educator, you will be responsible for providing a care environment that meets the required standards. Family day care educators who are parents can include their own children in their care, and the demand for family day care services is increasing, making this a highly desirable career option.

• Nanny/in-home carer

As a nanny or in-home carer, you will support families in caring for their children. This may be a few hours a day, all day every day or on a set agreement that works for everyone depending on the children’s age and needs, and the parents’ working schedule and requirements. Your daily tasks might be walking the children to school or picking them up, helping them with homework or caring for babies while parents work. You get the chance to create a meaningful and nurturing relationship with the family you work with.

• Kindergarten assistant

Your role as a kindergarten assistant is to support a kindergarten teacher as children gain school readiness and enhance their learning in the year or two leading up to commencing their primary school education. Working with children aged approximately 3 to 5-years old, helping them to master the essential skills required to thrive at school and beyond are at the core of your role as a kindergarten assistant.

Career pathways via Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care

The next step from a Certificate III qualification in the early childhood education sector is the CHC50125 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care. Your early childhood education career might progress to one of these roles or similar with this qualification:

• Centre director

A centre director is the most senior person in a childcare service and is responsible for managing the daily running of the centre. This can include structuring the educational program or curriculum in the service, general administration, marketing, rostering staff and ensuring the highest standard of early childhood education is delivered within the service.

• Room leader/Lead educator

The Room leader takes on the role of lead educator in a childcare setting, taking responsibility for how the room is run. They maintain a stimulating and supportive learning environment for children as they ensure the centre’s educational program is managed and run effectively throughout the day.

• Playgroup supervisor

As a playgroup supervisor or facilitator your role involves supporting families and community organisations in running effective and valuable playgroup sessions. Playgroup sessions are for parents to connect with one another while learning effective strategies to help their children grow and learn. Playgroup supervisors help to guide groups to get the most from their playgroup experience.

Career pathways via Diploma of School Age Education and Care

If providing care and education to children slightly older is an area of interest, then the CHC50221 Diploma of School age Education and Care could be a means of advancing your career. This qualification leads you to work with school age children in a variety of contexts, with roles including:

• Outside school hours care educator

For many families, they require further care than school offers to support their children while they work. Outside school hours care educators give children a safe and nurturing space to relax, play and/or learn before or after school.

• Vacation care coordinator

In this role you will develop and implement safe and fun recreational programs for children in school holiday/vacation care programs. This can include coordinating excursions and incursions as well as getting creative and developing a program that will keep children learning and stimulated during school holiday care programs.

An early childhood education career you will love

Take the first step toward your early childhood career pathway and discover career with endless possibilities that makes a true difference. Get in touch with us to chat about your future in early childhood education.

Let’s summarise the options available to you when you undertake training so you can go ahead and choose the best funding option for you. It’s important to note that the options for funding your training will vary from state to state, so make sure you look into the state that you’ll be studying in.  

Government funding options for your training 

Victoria 

The Skills First Program gives eligible students access to government funded aged care courses and childcare courses at Practical Outcomes. What does this mean? Essentially, the Victorian Government pays for some or all of course fees for your chosen course. 

To be eligible for a government funded training place, you need to meet this criteria:  

• Have physical presence in Victoria while undertaking the Qualification 
• Be Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or New Zealand citizen 
• Commence a maximum of 2 government subsidised courses in a year 
• Undertake a maximum of 2 government subsidised courses at any one time 
• Commence a maximum of 2 government subsidised courses at the same level within the AQF in their lifetime 
• All candidates under 20 years of age 
• Candidates 20 years and older and ‘upskilling’ by seeking to enrol in a course at a higher level than their existing qualification 

NSW 

The NSW Government delivers subsidised training for eligible students under their Smart and Skilled Program. Much like in Victoria, a government funded place in your course means either a portion or all of your course fees will be covered by the Smart and Skilled Program funding. 

The criteria you’ll need to meet includes: 

• Be 15 years or older 
• No longer at school 
• Living or working in New South Wales 
• Be an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident, humanitarian visa holder or New Zealand citizen 

Queensland 

When undertaking VET qualifications in Queensland, you’ll have access to subsidies such as the Certificate 3 Guarantee, the Higher Level Skills program and Fee-Free Training for Year 12 Graduates. 

To explore these government subsidy options, head to our Queensland fees and funding page. 

Make it manageable with payment plans 

Some RTOs will offer a payment plan which takes away the pressure and stress of having to come up with a lump sum to get started in your course.  

At Practical Outcomes, we offer Catalyst Plus interest–free student loans, which are effectively payment plans that enable you to pay off your course fees in instalments over a designated period of time. And don’t worry, there are no catches or additional fees – meaning you can get on with your training knowing exactly what you’ll be up for.  

Other funding considerations for your training  

It’s worth considering whether you are eligible for a scholarship, such as the Rural and Regional Enterprise Scholarship to cover your study fees. 

Centrelink offers financial support to students and trainees in the form of assistance payments such as Youth Allowance, Austudy or even scholarships or loans for those eligible. 

We can help find the right funding option for you 

Our team helps you to discover the funding options available to them every day. Talk to Practical Outcomes and let’s find out the best way for you to cover your course fees and get started on your chosen career path right away! 

Contact us today.

It’s our commitment to early childhood education and those working towards early childhood education jobs that drives us to continually deliver the very best early childhood courses to all of our students. Whether they’re starting out with a Certificate III in Early Childhood and Care, advancing in the industry with a Diploma or Advanced Diploma, or keeping on top of vital qualifications in First Aid and CPR, the student experience training with Practical Outcomes is supported, hands-on and relevant. 

Practical Outcomes trainer Adela is one example of our experienced, passionate trainers who support students through their early childhood courses. Although she is equipped with a law degree, she felt a pull towards the early childhood sector, its educators and, of course, the children. 

“I always wanted to study Early Childhood even when I lived overseas. When I came to Australia I decided that I would pursue my passion and I enrolled into Certificate III.” Says Adela.

“Starting my placement was my first time ever going into a child care centre and that is when I knew that I wanted to stay in this industry for the rest of my life.”

Along with their industry passion, Practical Outcomes trainers have an extensive working knowledge of the Early Years Learning Framework (ELYF) and National Quality Standard (NQS) requirements. This depth of industry knowledge and skills is what our trainers aim to pass on to their students, and in turn, enhance the quality of the child care centre and the standard of early childhood education and care delivered. 

Having shifted into a training role following her work as an exceptional early childhood educator, Adela also hopes to share her love of child care with her students. 

“I was able to progress in no time as employers would notice my passion and caring nature with the children. That is the thing I would most like to pass on to my students and everything else will come to them later”. 

With that in mind, Adela has some valuable advice for the early childhood educators of the future: 

“Be natural with children. They are very smart and they can feel your energy and sometimes we forget that. I always treat them as adults in terms of respect and that is what I then received back. You have to be positive around them and you have to like working with children most importantly.” 

Quality early childhood training from the Practical Outcomes trainers can transform child care services. Our child care courses cover Certificate III, Diploma, Advanced Diploma plus First Aid and Food Safety courses — everything a child care provider needs to thrive. 

Get in touch to learn more about our passionate training team and the courses we offer.