Have you plans to start a career in the child care sector? Then, it’s a great plan you have made. This sector is one of those areas where you will jump onto something unconventional but feel extremely satisfied with your job at the end of the day. According to a report published by the Australian Government, there will be a high increase in employment in the child care sector in the next 10 years. This sounds encouraging, isn’t so? To start, you may search about childcare courses. An advanced level diploma course in childcare can be appropriate for you to choose.
What is Meant by the Diploma in Childcare?
This course will cover basic and advanced knowledge and skills required to work in a childcare center or a similar professional setting. You can get employed as an early childhood educator to be responsible for planning and organising students’ curriculum where they can get involved to the fullest. After completing this course, most of the students choose to get involved in managerial jobs or director jobs.
Unlike certificate 3 course, duration of which is generally 52 weeks, diploma course will require about 92 weeks to complete, which equals almost two years. You can search all these details of the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care on the internet. You must check whether the course is offered online or on-campus.
What Does the Course Cover?
A diploma in childcare is a registered course under the Australian Qualifications Framework or AQF. Thus the course will act as valid evidence that you had gained a certain level of theoretical knowledge and skills to work in any post in the childcare sector.
As mentioned, this is an advanced course, which will enable you to learn more advanced techniques required for professional development in your career. The course usually covers a wide range of subjects. A total of 28 units are covered under this course. Some of the essentials in these 23 core units include:
- Work legally and ethically
- Ensure the health and safety of children
- Maintain work health and safety
- Develop positive and respectful relationships with children
- Provide care for children
- Provide care for babies and toddlers etc.
In addition to these, five elective units are also taught like ‘Support the holistic development of children in their early childhood, ‘Work with diverse people’ etc.
What are The Entry Requirements for This Course?
You may wonder that you have to take specific training before applying to this course, but in reality, you don’t have to. However, there are specific general requirements which are as follows:
- Age requirement: Your age must be 18 years or more.
- Clearance certificate: Clearance certificates should be issued by National Police or Federal Police.
- Immunisation: A professional experience placement will need proper immunisation.
- Physical requirements: Besides immunisation, there are other health requirements too. You must be physically strong enough to carry or lift clients and know-how to carry out CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation). You must have enough physical flexibility so that you can move swiftly, especially in small spaces. And lastly, you must be very good at hearing so that you can identify noises through a stethoscope and listen to alarms and emergency cries.
- Computer skills: Basic computer skills and programming knowledge are mandatory for almost every job sector right now.
- Academic qualification: You will just need a high school-leaving certificate for enrollment.
- English language requirement: Are you coming from any non-English speaking country? Then, you must submit the score of any internationally recognised English test like TOEFL, IELTS or PTE.
Why Should You Study This Course?
There are various reasons for which you should go for this course:
- First of all, you do not need to have prior knowledge about childcare or so. You can easily apply to the course even if you have just passed out of high school. Only you have to be 18 years of age or higher than that. Still, having a course in certificate 3 will always help.
- Suppose you have a very compassionate nature and self-motivation. In that case, theDiploma of Early Childhood Education and Care Perth will provide you with the formal educational qualification that you will need to establish your professional career in the child care sector.
- In your role as an early childhood educator, you can experiment with new ideas to solve different challenges. You will interact with not only children but the staff and their parents too.
- If you get the job at a managerial post, you will be responsible for designing project plans, administering, monitoring, finalising, and reviewing projects. For the children’s developments, you will have to establish and maintain a safe and healthy fun-intriguing environment.
- Children are vulnerable to several risks and threats. As an educator and caregiver, you must learn to specify and respond to the young children at potential risks. Besides that, you should also learn to develop a healthy relationship with them, nurture their creativity, provide care to infants and babies and use an advanced framework in guiding practice.
What Are The Available Job Opportunities?
Before knowing about the potential career outcomes, you should know that, in this course, you need to complete 240 hour-vocational placement training. You can take this training in any registered Australian Child Care and Education Centre. The managerial posts you can get placed in our children’s advisor, children’s service director, children’s service manager, group/team leader, group/team coordinator or child care centre manager.
You can understand that the jobs involve administrative responsibilities, which will keep you very busy throughout the day. But it will also be very satisfying as your team or centre will run according to your planning, and you will continue to inspire your staff or team members.
Ending note
From the perspective of living and working, Perth is a great option to choose. You can search for opportunities on the internet and enrol in a well-developed child care course in Perth to start.
