Welcome to our extensive guide to starting a career in child care! This guide covers everything you need to know about getting qualified to work in child care.
The practice of caring for and supervising children can be traced to over 2,300 years ago! If children under 6 years of age are your client and the population keeps growing, early childhood education and care is one of the most secure careers that can offer limitless flexibility.
Want to work casually or part-time? No problem.
Want to work only when your own children are in school? Sure.
Want to be a leader in the field and develop new resources and strategies for improving the industry? Go for it.
Want to start your own childcare empire? Why not!
Early childhood education and care offers a plethora of rewarding, fulfilling and fun career choices where no two days are the same. That is why early childhood educators are happier people in general.
AITT has prepared a comprehensive list of what you need to know about starting a career in Early Childhood Education and Care.
If you would like to know more feel free to send us a message or call.
Is a career in Early Childhood Education and Care right for me?
Working in early childhood education and care is more than just declaring “I like kids”.
Children can:
- Be sick or unwell and need special attention;
- Have strict dietary requirements that can sometimes be life threatening if not followed;
- Have religious practices that must be accommodated;
- Have learning and development issues;
- Have communication issues, particularly if English is not their first language;
- Require special care and attention if they have disabilities; and
- Face emotional challenges and hardships.
The limited list above is what makes a career in early childhood so rewarding. YOU are responsible for a little person’s learning and development at such a critical time in their lives.
We have prepared a checklist for you to determine if ECEC is a career for you.
- I understand that all children are special, unique and require care and attention.
- I do not like a job where I am sedentary and doing repetitive tasks all day.
- I am patient with children.
- I empathise with children.
- I feel a sense of duty and care towards taking care of children and developing children’s learning.
- I have good organisational and reporting skills and can follow rules.
- I want a career that suits the kind of life I want to live – not a career that demands everything from me.
- Making children smile and feel safe makes me feel good.
- Enabling children to acquire skills they will use in their life is important to me.
- I work well in a team
Where do Early Childhood Educators Work?
Early Childhood Educators work in a variety of centre-based service environments including:
- Creches
- Day care centres
- Long day care
- Child care centres
- Outside school hours care
- Family day care
- Home based care
- Early learning centres
- Preschool (also referred to as Kindergartens)
- Other work environments that involves caring for Children.
The list above could refer to private or government run organisations.
How flexible is a career in Early Childhood Education & Care?
A career in early childhood education and care is very flexible. It comes down to what kind of work/life balance you want to achieve.
The following work arrangements and objectives are possible:
- Casual work
- Contract (or sub-contract) work
- Part time work
- Full time (permanent) work
- Relief work
- Temporary or fill-in work
- Consulting work
- Secondments
- Early Childcare Centre management
- Early Childcare Centre ownership
- Early Childcare Centre franchising
- Early Childcare Centre resource development
- Early Childcare Centre planning
- Overseas work
- Further studies – for example:
- Bachelor of Education (Early Years)
- Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (Hons)
- Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood Education)
- Masters of Education (Early Years)
How much do Early Childhood Educators earn?
We have done some research from the following sources to get an idea of the kind of salary or wages you can expect as an Early Childhood Educator.
- payscale.com
- seek.com.au
- au.indeed.com
- living-australia.com
- glassdoor.com.au
Job titles
- Early Childhood Teacher (87)
- Educator (65)
- Senior Educator (47)
- Assistant Educator (43)
- Casual Childcare Educator (28)
- Teacher (25)
- Casual Educator (24)
- Lead Educator (21)
- Diploma Qualified Educator (17)
- Certificate Educator (11)
- Diploma Educator (10)
The cost and duration of studying ECEC
AITT’s fee structure for studying the Cert III and Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care is shown below.
Please Note: Enrolment under WorkReady is subject to availability and eligibility criteria. To find out if you are eligible, see the Skills & Employment SA website for more information.
http://www.skills.sa.gov.au/training-learning/check-your-eligibility/eligibility-explained
Fee For Service
Cert III
Diploma
WorkReady Funding
(South Australia)
$350
$500
Australian Residents
$3,600
$6,4500
Outside Australia
$8,500
$11,450
Duration*
12 Months 25 hours p/w
18 Months 25 hours p/w
*Actual course completion times may vary based on personal circumstances and/or personal choice.
Incidental Fees for Early Childhood Education and Care Courses
Work Placement Insurance $77.00 incl. GST (payable to AITT if required)
First Aid Certificate $20.00 administration fee
Police Check – Approx $60.00
Text Books (to be sourced by students): $255 for Diploma (Birth to Big School*, The Business of Childcare, The Big Picture*, Frameworks for Learning and Development). *$130 for Cert III
What the fees include
Enrolment into our program that will enable you to be a compliant and professional early childhood educator that will know how to develop and provide the appropriate level of care and education for children.
- Access to a campus with classrooms, wifi, resources and more
- Classroom and one-on-one relationships with amazing trainers
- Practical hands on and interactive learning platforms
- Practical work experience and work placements
- Job application and job preparation skills
- Amazing learning resources (hard copy and online)
- Continuous support after you graduate
- Possibility to enrol anytime
- Flexible study arrangements
- Access to a dedicated administration and compliance team
AITT Certification
AITT is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO provider code 50834).
The Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care – CHC30113 and Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care – CHC50113 are both Nationally Recognised Training and therefore:
- Compliant with the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA)
- Compliant with the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)