Child care is a booming industry and it has been estimated that about 50,000 child care workers and early childhood educators will be in demand from now till 2019! The demand for child care educators is at a high, as their roles are essential in developing and managing the educational and recreational activities of young children. Jobs within this industry are predicted to be available across Australia and for those who love playing and being with children, this is their best career path!
Of course, the natural love for children is a good starting point but it isn’t a guarantee that you will be successful as an early childhood educator. It is not enough to be able to fulfil your responsibilities as an early childhood educator. Being an early childhood educator has always been said to be a very rewarding career, but it is no walk in the park as it entails several challenges too. You need to have particular skills, attributes, and background knowledge to get the job. Let’s find out what these qualities are and figure out if you are suited for a child care career in the checklists below!
✓ Excellent Communication Skills
Early childhood eduactors will find themselves involved in many situations where they will need to talk to parents, their supervisors, and of course, to young children. They will need to convey themselves effectively to different people both verbally and in writing. They also need to possess good listening skills, which will enable them to adjust their approach depending on the need of the person that they are communicating with.
✓ Monitoring Skills
The bulk of your time will go to looking after children as they go about their activities that you have planned for them. As their educator, you need to carefully observe how these activities affect them – are they having a hard time, are they showing signs of development, do they need guidance, or are they happy and enthusiastic towards the activity? There are a lot of points of view that you need to look into and the only way for you to be able to effectively record the results is through careful monitoring.
✓ Good Judgment and Decision-Making Skills
This is a highly sort after skill in the child care industry since educators need to assess and judge a situation correctly and then build the appropriate decision after. As mentioned earlier, there will be a few challenges and child care workers need to quickly find a solution. Some may be as basic as having to report a child’s behaviour to his parents and as complex as applying first aid treatment to a child choking on his own food who has fallen over.
✓ Strong Coordination and Negotiating Skills
As an early childhood educator, you will be in the middle of a network of people that are all aiming to provide quality care, support, and education to young children. You will need to coordinate and at times, negotiate with fellow early childhood educator centre managers, parents, and guardians. You will sometimes even have to negotiate with the little children that you care for. It takes a lot of patience, understanding, and persuasion to be able to pull this off. Being very organised will certainly be a bonus!
✓ Good Time Management Skills
Expect yourself to be assigned to more than one child to care for. Also expect that your task list will not be limited to two to three items per day. From reading and playing games to managing children’s behaviour and guiding children’s social development. You can already imagine how busy your day will be if you are going to be involved in all of these tasks. What you need to know how to do then is to properly manage your own time in a child care environment. Already knowing which tasks to prioritise and which tasks to spend more time on will be beneficial as well as set realistic expectations your career.
✓ Possessing Effective Learning Strategies
Child care workers are expected to integrate learning into the activities that they organise for children. Play and recreation should be a medium in which children can develop their skills. Child care workers then need to be able to identify and use the correct tools, toys, methods, and strategies to further enrich these skills.
✓ Education and Training
Early childhood educators will benefit if they have a background in identifying and applying the appropriate methods in teaching children a few basic lessons that could help nourish their skills and abilities. To work as an early childhood educator you must be enrolled, working towards or completed a Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care. Since this qualification meets the requirements of the Education and Care Services National Regulations and the National Quality Standard. For those child care professionals working as educators at center-based services – 50 per cent of the educators must be enroled and working towards or completed a Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care.
✓ Customer Service
You may have heard about customer service from employees of retail stores, telecommunication companies, or food businesses. But customer service in child care centres? Yes, you read it right. Knowing how to properly deal with customers will be an asset since young children and their families are going to be your own customers now. Are they happy with the quality of service that you provide? Are you quick to offer a solution to their questions and concerns? Do you professionally handle their issues?
✓ First Aid Qualification
The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) has outlined the requirements for schools, family day cares, and centre-based service providers that must be adhered to. First aid is an essential training to complete if you desire to work in child care, especially when dealing with young children should emergency situations arise it is crucial to know what to do and how to do it. Undertaking first aid training is a big advantage for those who are seeking to enter into the child care industry.
✓ Safety and Security
An early childhood educator should always be informed of national and state policies and procedures on how to promote and implement safety and security. Again, this will be extra useful as your work is related to providing care and support for little children. Undertaking an approved diploma level child care course will equip on how to continually stay informed of any changes and updates.
✓ Clerical Work
Early childhood educators attend to other tasks such as keeping records of the daily activities of children, entertaining enquiries via phone, ordering supplies, taking attendance, writing memos or emails to parents, preparing reports, and other paper works. These are clerical duties that are very common in the child care industry.
Feeling inspired? Think you have what it takes to be a child care worker now? Jumpstart your career by looking into these child care courses that are both designed to further prepare you for this job. If you still have any questions, please feel free to give us a call at 1300 236 364 to speak to a career consultant.