We are gifted the opportunity to train educators under high level leadership. They are carefully monitored and overseen by your centre director, other qualified staff and their training assessor, this ensures quality of practice and embedded theory is maintained
Traineeships
Ashospitals need training nurses and intern doctors, early education and schoolsrequire training educators/teachers. This is why we at Play to Learn are aproud teaching early childhood centre. We are gifted the opportunity to traineducators under high level leadership, ensuring educators working in our sectorare highly qualified, passionate and committed!
Traineeships are generally run for a 12-month period, give or take a few months depending on the learning capacity of the individual. They are signed up through NSW state training and are provided all their course work through an external provider –we use ET Australia. They then receive a full day off the floor per month to complete their study, whilst all their planning and observations are done on the floor, benefiting your children! They are carefully monitored and over seen by your centre director, other qualified staff and their training assessor, this ensures quality of practice and embedded theory is maintained.
Trainees are generally young, as they exit school and search for a profession, they are passionate about. Young educators are usually full of energy, excitement and passion as they have not been conditioned from a previous workplace, so all of this works in our favour! They come with fresh perspectives and an eagerness to learn and bond with your children, it’s the start of an educator’s journey that we all remember.
Strict Recruitment
At Play to Learn our recruitment process is very strict, in most cases much more strict than other early childhood companies. We pride ourselves on strict orientations, probations, and ongoing performance management. No matter the position or qualification, if an educator breaches our values, philosophy or regulations they will be let go as we have never compromised on safety or quality, we provide our children and families.
Trainees are interviewed by the centre director, as we usually receive large amounts of applications for this role, we only interview approx. 10 applicants that suit.We then trial the applicants in centre and perform another face-to-face interview. Following this we may offer a second trial or offer the position.Once offered the position they must undergo two company orientations including the values and determination process, complete a first week intentions plan anda week orientation workbook. Our process is very thorough as we only keep educators who perform at a high standard at all times, if they don’t meet our expectations we simply keep looking.
Do Trainees Impact on my Child’s Access to High Quality Education and Care?
Absolutely not! Early education’s main focus is those core foundations of development, social and emotional intelligence, connections and holistic nurturing. Many trainees come in on the first day and this is automatic for them, coming from strong family values and younger siblings they love connecting with our little ones. Trainees bring fresh energy that children thrive off and are moulded by our qualified team in the process.
Many of us have older cousins, nieces, nephews, or neighbourhood friends that love playing with our little ones. They have a natural, organic pull to connect with children as they are still young themselves! However, the skills required from an early childhood educator are well exceed those of a babysitter, other wise early childhood teachers wouldn’t study a four-year university degree to obtain their qualification and skills! This is where we come in, a centre with already high performing teachers and educators who support a new educators introduction into the profession.
Trainees are closely guided and supervised by our most qualified team, and often observe the educational practices taking place before they implement them. This ensures consistency in our programs and high quality at all times. So even though your children are introduced to a new trainee every 12mths or so, they receive so many benefits from their time with us. As schools have interns and relief teachers, so does childcare, this only builds social and emotional resilience in all children as they develop skills in connecting with new people who may enter their lives.
We are grateful to have educated so many trainees in our 16 years of operation and look forward to investing more time into future educators to come!
The two basic elements of a safe and secure connection can be found in predictable routines (rhythms of the day), and through the adult consistently showing up in a warm manner, while ensuring boundaries are maintained. In this blog, I will focus on predictable routines, what it is, and what strategies you could include in your day-to-day routine.
Judgement can be experienced as a ‘pain’ within yourself - we may experience this physically or mentally. Interestingly, if we observe the concept of judgment and how it makes you feel then you would become aware of how detrimental it is on a personal level. It also impacts our ability to think and feel.It not only damages your self-esteem, but also damages the relationships we hold with others. Judgement can and will make us physically unwell if left unchecked, for example, the anxiety that judgment brings can lead to increased heart rate.
The HARD Truth Behind Our Overwhelmed Early Education Services
When parents think of early education it is often considered a ‘babysitting service’ and no more. This is by no fault of the family, for how could they know what we REALLY do when this is how our sector is portrayed through the media and the government who treat us like the insignificant bottom of the food chain. How often did we hear through the pandemic that school teachers required our support, how were school teachers going to overcome the stresses of COVID, guidelines and reporting documentation….? In the meantime, ‘childcare’ or as we call ourselves early education and care (ECEC), was still operating the whole time under the same stresses, with the added pressure of financial hardship to continue operating with reduced incomes. Don’t get us wrong, we adore and respect school teachers, however we only ask for the same considerations. This is just one example of the battle we face each day when seeking support from our government bodies, support that flows onto you – our families.
