Aussie Childcare Network Forum

10 months into my traineeship (nearly done!) and I'm starting to wonder if 2 hours programming/3 hours study is actually a myth.

I don't think this has ever happened in my centre, we're lucky to get an hour a week and often go many weeks without... no one in my room has had programming time for five weeks now! It's so frustrating... I'm a trainee and should have study time, but I've also taken on children's journals and I'm being taught how to plan and implement the programs as well. I have grown used to not having study (probably had 10 hours in 10 months) but not having programming time is worse. Myself and the others in my room are so behind on programming and journals and there's just never enough staff to give everyone the programming they need.

What do we do in this situation? It sounds like a pretty common thing in the industry. How is your centre with programming/study time?

Hi

I consider myself very fortunate that I do actually get 2 hours programming time. I am also on a traineeship but I forgo my study time as I prefer to do it at home away from the pressures of work. There are times when I am programming that I have had to go back onto the floor when I have been only programming for an hour and could not get back to programming so that I took that hour on another day. Maybe you need to speak to your director or educational leader about this.

Hi Megs,

No it's not a myth. At my service programming educators get a full 7.6 hours a week to plan and program for their rooms. We do have rooms with large numbers so there are many children to plan for. There may be a week where programming gets missed due to a high number of staff having sick leave and no relievers available.
I have undertaken both my Cert 3 and Diploma with a traineeship and I always got my study time. There may be a few weeks that go by without any study then the centre would catch me up by giving me an entire day or two or what ever they owed me in study time. Under the traineeship agreement your employer is obligated to ensure you are getting that study time. Your employer has been given financial incentives to support the room while you are studying. So what's going on? I guess it's something for you to look into.
How can educators undertake best practice and plan and implement meaningful programs when they are not given time to do this? That concerns me.

You could always contact the company that signed you up for your traineeship and discuss the amount of study time you are getting or not getting. Do you have someone come to your centre to assess you on the job? You could discuss it with them. Or you could be really brave and have a chat with your Director. I suppose having nearly finished your traineeship you could have a look around at other centres and if your interested in moving on to another service it might be a good idea to have a look at their staffing arrangements to see whether they hire additional staff that cover programming and study time.

I wish you all the best and good luck with your study!
Carrie

We get it if we have enough staff and the RL is really nice about it. Sometimes we don't but sometimes we do, and they're trying to give us 2 hours a week. My only problem is I'm trying to get 30+ obs done this month and falling behind badly. XD

Laiorwyn wrote:We get it if we have enough staff and the RL is really nice about it. Sometimes we don't but sometimes we do, and they're trying to give us 2 hours a week. My only problem is I'm trying to get 30+ obs done this month and falling behind badly. XD

30 Obs all by yourself?? That's a lot to ask!!

,
L.A