Choose your work environment

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Nicole loves her active role in a long day care service, educating and caring for children and mentoring other educators.

‘We teach through play. It’s not about sitting around doing a lot of paperwork. It’s about being out there, being active, it’s talking to the children, teaching and learning.’—Nicole

Family Day Care

Operate in the private homes of registered educators as part of an approved family day care scheme. Educators are supported by family day care coordinators employed by the scheme.

Family day care educates and cares for up to four children from birth to pre-school age. Hours are flexible and before and after care for up to 3 additional school-aged children can also be provided.

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Vivian shares some special benefits of being a family day care educator.

‘In terms of family day care set up [in your home], less is more. Children are very creative and resilient, they don’t need lots of cool toys to engage in learning. You can easily select items you already have at home and add it into your play spaces.’—Vivian

Victoria is a family day care coordinator with a Family Day Care Scheme, supporting Vivian and other educators.

 

‘Working within the co-ordination unit is a very varied and rewarding role. We visit and provide hands on support for the educators, including training. We get to interact with the children and families. We also provide information from the Department of Education and set the policies, procedures and guidelines, so our educators have what they need to operate their family day care service.’—Victoria

Outside School Hours Care

Outside school hours care (OSHC) services provide play and leisure-based programs generally for school-aged children before and after school, during school holidays and pupil free days. These services operate mainly in schools, community centres and youth clubs.

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Kaela started working in OSHC while studying her degree and loved it so much she stayed.

‘The great thing is that there’s an OSHC attached to almost every school, so even though I’d moved suburbs, I still had a lot of employment opportunities. I get to spend time, up to 5.5 hours a day, with children and support them to learn and grow through play.’—Kaela

In Home Care

In Home Care is a unique early childhood education and care service. Just like long day care and family day care, In Home Care is an approved service that provides early childhood professionals the opportunity to engage with children and their families by providing an individualised play-based program.

In Home Care is provided by a qualified early childhood educator or teacher attending the employing family’s home. When mainstream early childhood services are not available or not suitable for a child, an In Home Care educator steps in to provide their early childhood expertise. Families use In Home Care because of their unique circumstances.

An In Home Care educator plays an imperative role in providing children an early childhood program in the safety and comfort of the child’s own home. An educator may provide education and care to a child who is immunocompromised and therefore vulnerable to illness in a large group setting such as long day care. An In Home Care educator may reside with a family in the outback because there are no early childhood services available near the family’s remote location. In Home Care educators also support health care workers who are responsible for working non-standard hours when other approved early childhood services are closed.

Find out more information on where you can work.

Qualifications and service positions

Your qualification and experience will generally determine your position within an early childhood service. The diagram below provides some examples of possible role titles you could take on with each qualification level.

Note: Outside school hours care qualifications are broader in range than just early childhood. Find more information on the pathways to qualifications.​