Exploring early childhood education career pathways

An early childhood education career can set you up for a bright future enhancing the education and development of children. There are many roles available for meaningful and fun employment in the sector that can suit a range of different people.

Providing care for children during the most vital time of development in the first five years of life is an admirable career path, and the path has more options than you may realise. 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 make it appealing for those who like to have access to a range of career pathways.

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.

Qualifications to find the right early childhood education career

There are a number of qualifications you can seek out to gain employment within the early learning. 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 outcomes 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 outcomes. 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

Career outcomes via Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care

The next step from a Certificate III qualification in the early childhood education sector is the CHC50121 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care. Your early childhood education career might progress to one of these roles or similar with this qualification:

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

Advance further with a university pathway

For those looking to advance further in their career supporting children’s education, the Diploma-level qualification creates a university pathway for you to use course credits to study a Bachelor of Education in either Early Childhood Teaching or Early Childhood and Primary Teaching at Swinburne Online or Swinburne campus (Hawthorn). This opens even more doors to you as an experienced educator:

• Kindergarten teacher

Help to optimise school readiness in children in the lead up to their formal years of schooling as a Kindergarten teacher. This role focuses on developing social, emotional and motor skills through play-based learning experiences, applying the National Quality Framework to maximise children’s outcomes.

• Primary School teacher

Primary School teachers teach children from prep through to Grade 6, drawing from the set curriculum to create engaging learning experiences that build children’s literacy, numeracy, physical development, creativity, problem solving skills and more.

Discover the right early childhood education career pathway

When it comes to opportunities, the sky is the limit with an early childhood education career.

If you want to chat about your individual career goals and the best way to achieve them, we would love to help. Get started on the right pathway to launch a fulfilling career in early childhood education.

Contact us today!