Do I need to be an Australian citizen to become a Trainee?

[Mary Poppins]

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about studying and working in Australia. I first wanted to get a diploma in early childhood education and work part time. But now I'm wondering if becoming a trainee is a better decision because I can gain work experience, study, make money and some centers even provide sponsorship for a migration visa if I later on decide to stay. So, my question is can I become a trainee if I'm not an Australian citizen? If yes does anyone know what visa I should apply for? Vocational and training sector visa?! Occupational training visa?!

[Lorina]

No you don't need to be a citizen just a permanent resident for 6 months or more I think...

A traineeship is beneficial because you do get to work and study at the same time. When becoming a trainee, you will enter into an agreement with the centre stating you will be working in the centre for a minimum amount of time (typically) a year, until you gain your qualification. This means that it will take at least a year to complete your qualification.

If you were to do online study then you can do it quicker than a year if you wanted. As long as you are passing the assignments you may be able to complete the course in 6 months or less. You will still need to do practical hours on top of your assignments however you wont have experience just knowledge.

It's a hard decision whether you become a trainee for a year and gain experience, or complete the qualification in less than a year and find a job at a centre with less experience...

Here is some more info:

Starting A Traineeship in Childcare

Hope this helps,

,
L.A

[Mary Poppins]

Thanks Lorina, it did help . I want to get a temporary visa so I won't be able to do a trainee ship. After posting this I found this website, Smart employment solutions, that says which visa holders can get a trainee ship and student visa wasn't one of them

By any chance do you know anything about the different institutes that offer early childhood education? I'm really interested in MEGT institute because it offers more work experience than other places (it offers 15 weeks where as others offer about 4 to 7 weeks), but it's more expensive than TAFE. And now I found SGSCC International and that's almost half the price as the other two. The courses they offer were pretty much the same too. How should I find out which is best?

Should I start another topic for this?!

[Lorina]

I just checked out the MEGT institute and they seems very professional. They even have a childcare facility within their institute to train you. It's more expensive than TAFE because it's probably private institute, where as TAFE is government and it has all these extra features. Looking through the course units I also noticed that the First Aid course is included. Usually you will need to arrange to complete this in your own time and it will cost you extra. Another positive is that they arrange the work placement for their students. Some (including TAFE, I think), you will need to arrange your own work placement. So that's a very helpful, especially if you are new to the country.

I also noticed this on their site:

Paid internships in child care centres

MEGT (Australia) Ltd is a registered Training & Research Sponsor with the Department of Immigration & Citizenship for the Training and Research Visa (TRV) Subclass 402.

We are able to offer our international Diploma graduates the opportunity to train and improve their skills and knowledge with on-the-job training in Children’s Services for up to 12 months. The job role is usually that of a new graduate training towards a managerial position.

It may be more expensive but I think it may be worth it! Just by looking at their site it's very impressive. You will probably have to go and see their institute to seal the deal and see if it's for you.

Listen there are many many many institutes offering childcare courses, you just have to find one for you and maybe this is it?

Hopefully you find somewhere that supports you well,

,
L.A

[Mary Poppins]

Yeah, the site is really impressive. I really wanted to read a review about it by people who actually studied there but can't find anything. Unfortunately to get a student visa I need to enroll in a course first. So, I won't really have an opportunity to see the institute! That's why I'm so hesitant. If I choose this institute and it's no good I will still be stuck to it.

Thanks for your reply and good wishes .

K.A

[Lorina]

Yeah, I didn't think about that!

I found some videos about MEGT on youtube which may help as well...

http://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFX ... CW-6CkA2wS

Hopefully you can make up your mind soon,

,
L.A

[Lorina]

BTW- I'm giving some links to other institutes offering the Diploma course which you can use to compare MEGT too...

http://www.ectarc.com.au/diploma-of-chi ... e-chc50908
http://www.seeklearning.com.au/tafe/dip ... n-and-care
http://www.holmesglen.edu.au/programs/e ... s_services
http://cit.edu.au/study/courses/early_c ... re_diploma

If you search in Google there are many other ones as well.... Maybe spend an afternoon going through a few sites to see what they offer. Write the pros and cons of each and then this should help make up your mnd...

,
L.A