Some advise to enter childcare

[tattyteddy78]

Hi first of all thanks admins for the wonderful forum.
I have a question. I'm an international student in Melbourne and I currently I'm doing my masters in Translation Studies. I really would love to be in the child care sector as I love being with kids. But right now I don't have any experiences other than baby sitting or any professional qualifications in child care.
So come to the real question, can somebody please tell me how to start a career in childcare. And what are the professional qualifications that I have to get. Also if it's according to the forum laws can somebody tell me about the institutions that offer such courses.
Thank you so much for listening. ( I mean reading )

[Lorina]

Welcome To Aussie Childcare Network, it's great to have you on board.

So first off you will need to decide what type of position you will want while working in Childcare. As an assistant, a room leader or as a director. If you want an assistant role you will need a certificate 3 in children's services, for a room leader you will need a diploma of children's services and as a director you will need a bachelor of early childhood studies. Even though, as a minimum qualification while working in childcare you will need to complete a certificate 3 in children's services. This qualification can be obtained as a traineeship, online, correspondence, through TAFE or a private institution. So, it's best to work out which method you want to go about obtaining this qualification.

In the mean time you can contact a childcare job agency and sign up for casual work to gain further experience. When working as a casual you will get a call in the morning or day before and be asked to work at a centre as a casual. The wages are pretty good however the work is inconsistent as you only get a call when needed. I'm not too sure whether or not you need to have completed or should have have started a certificate 3 before working in centres. I don't think this comes into effect until 2014 however i may be wrong so it's best to get the information directly from the agency.

Since you are from Melbourne you may need to obtain a blue card (working with children's check). This is a form you fill out and send through and they will run your details through a database to make sure that you have no criminal record and are allowed to work with children. You can Google this for more information.

If you have any more questions let me know and I'll try and help you out,

,
L.A