It’d come as no surprise to current year 11 or year 12 students if we said on average, each student gets asked on average 3 times per week what they’re planning on doing for the rest of their lives. Now, although those stats are completely made up – it sure feels like it sometimes!
There are a couple of things students in their final years of high school have an abundance of, and they all boil down to fit under two main headings. Time and opportunities. With this, if you’re considering exploring a career working with children, you have so many places you could start – so let us help you to break it down into a couple of different approaches based on how you’re feeling at the moment.
Keen and ready to go!
Ok, so you know you want to work with children and now you just have to figure out how. You’ve always found working with children to be so rewarding and have thought “wow I could actually take this to the next level”.
In that case, a career in early childhood education and care is your first point of call. The first thing we’d recommend is heading to your local early learning centre and have a chat to one of the educators on what they love about working with children (check out our Thriving Futures Stories for more!).
Then, we’d check out TAFE courses available near you to get you qualified to be the best educator you can be. BUT what if we told you we can sort out the courses for you, provide a scholarship and secure you a job? Our program will guide and support you through your first career moves, all you have to do is send us a message on Facebook or flick us an email.
Need a bit of a break from school…
Year 12 was awesome (most of the time) but you just need a bit of a rest before you go and study again – we get it. Taking time off study before jumping into a full-on career move could be for you, whether it’s three months, six months, or a whole gap year. If you’re considering working with children eventually but you’re not too sure where you’ll fit in the sector, our intro learning modules will give you a good idea of what’s to come. They’ll take you through what to expect at your own pace without needing you to sign up to any actual further study. If you give us a buzz, we’ll send through the content!
On the fence
If you’re someone that likes to keep their options open (hello more options = more opportunities!) we’d think it’d be best to have a chat to some of the people that work in the areas you’re looking into. In doing this, think about “who do I relate to the most?” and “what sort of work/life balance am I looking for?”
Connecting with people you don’t really know might seem really daunting at first, but people working in early childhood have a willingness to help and genuinely care about the next gen! Send us a message on Facebook or Instagram and we can answer any questions you might have or jump on the phone to give us a call.
Now what?
Well, for now we’re going to encourage you to take a breather and to focus on what’s in front of you during this huge time of change (and please don’t be afraid to answer the oh-so dreaded question with “well, I’m not quite sure what I want to be doing just yet”).
Next, we’d love to hear from you and tell you more about how we can help your career journey in early childhood education and care.
Feel free to contact us on any of our socials, send an email or even give us a call. We think it’s better to explain how we can help when we have a bit more of an idea of where you sit!