Exploring a Career in Education
Finding a career that will give you fulfillment during your working life is a difficult and sometimes challenging task. It requires you to do a deep dive on what your passions are, and where those same passions can be applied for a career. What this post will aim to achieve, is to give you as someone who is perhaps undecided, an outline of the different avenues that you can follow in the world of education. A career in education is a rewarding and worthwhile path to follow, although it is one that requires your total and utter dedication and true passion. It is not something that all people think about doing but maybe at the end of this article it will give you some new ideas for your future.
The paths that you can take
The world of education plays host to several different but equally rewarding jobs. There are two main pathways to explore when looking at a career in education at a diploma level or lower. The first of these is the early childhood pathway, which entails jobs such as:
• Kindergarten Assistant: The role of a kindergarten assistant is to help in maintaining a clean and safe classroom, playground, and storage area. They assist the children in cleaning various equipment, such as paintbrushes, prepare food with the help of the children and report any incidents or broken equipment to the teacher. They are also required to work in a constructive manner with coworkers and the community to meet the learning goals of the children. Kindergarten assistants should also always be looking at ways to continue their professional development. The qualification required to enter this role is a certificate 3 in early childhood and care.
• Family Day Care Educator: A family day care educator provides education and care to small groups of children, no more than a total of four at one time and the children are aged from 0-6 years. This education service is carried out in the educator’s home. Some of the tasks that you will undertake in this role include taking children to and from school or pre-school, providing feedback to the parents about the child’s day, providing a range of activities that encourage the development of children in physical and emotional areas, and ensuring a safe, clean, and comfortable environment for the children. The qualification needed for this job is either a certificate 3 in early childhood and care or a diploma of early childhood and care.
• Long Day Care Educator: Long day care educators provide education and care to children aged from birth to beginning of school age. The children can be grouped according to the stage of development and their age. As a long day care educator, you will normally work from 7am until 7pm and for 48-50 weeks of the year. Your role will include cultivating a safe and stimulating environment for the children and making sure the activities are age appropriate. When dealing with babies, you will make sure they have a sleep, eating, and play schedule that suits their individual needs. This line of work will require you to have at least a certificate 3 in early childhood education and care.
The second pathway is that which encompasses education of children in a school classroom setting. Some of the jobs which you may be able to choose from include:
• Teacher Aide: The role of teacher aides is to work side by side with the classroom teacher to help develop and obtain learning resources, assist in setting up equipment, supervising students, and participating in learning activities under instruction from a teacher. As a teacher aide you will also collaborate with the teacher to provide a safe, clean, and welcoming classroom for the students that ensures the students physical, social, cultural, physical, and emotional wellbeing. To be qualified to work as a teacher aide, you will need to undertake at a minimum a nationally recognised certificate 3 in school-based education and support.
• Student Support Officer: As a student support officer some of the tasks and duties you will undertake include support to students and their families, liaising with the wider community, intervening in behaviour and wellbeing issues when you have identified them, visiting family homes to motivate student attendance, promoting education to improve student outcomes and to work in a team as a contact for students, families, or the community for any concerns. The level of course required to work in student support is a certificate 3 in school-based education and support.
• Learning Support Officer: Responsibilities of the learning support officer include helping with identifying students who have learning needs and also spotting those students who are gifted or advanced in their learning for their age, making changes to the curriculum depending on the needs of the students, promoting the inclusion of all students, supporting students with special needs and ensuring their safety, and to gather information in conjunction with primary schools regarding pre-identified learning requirements. The learning support officer role exists in both high schools and primary schools. The course to undertake to be eligible for this job, is a certificate 3 in school-based education and support.
You will have the opportunity for career growth
Depending on what role you chose, you may work directly in the education of children with a qualified teacher, or work in a more support-oriented position, where you would be helping in making sure the wellbeing and needs of children are being maintained. Working as a teacher’s aide/education support gives you a sample of what it is like to work as a fully qualified teacher, and this could inspire you to undertake undergraduate study at a university to become a fully qualified teacher. The course would not take as long as it normally would through virtue of RPL (Recognition of prior Learning).
You can make a difference
While money is a necessity for living and plays a major part in what career an individual chooses for themselves, going into education relies just as much on your passion and dedication to helping children learn and get the most out of themselves. For some, working in education will allow you to fuel that passion by being able to work with neurodiverse students. Neurodiversity in students can include identifiable issues such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) and children who show signs of anxiety. While each of these present challenges to educators, they are also an opportunity to help those students overcome the barriers they face and to then thrive in their environment. Helping students, and especially students such as these achieve their goals, can be extremely satisfying and provide a sense of achievement and pride within yourself that no amount of money could buy.
What you can earn in education
When exploring a career in education, you can be assured that you will find the pay rates will be respectable and that there will always be opportunity to have wage increases. For example, the average median hourly rate for an entry level teacher’s aide in Australia in 2022 is 24.72 an hour, while those who have been in the industry longer can expect an hourly rate of $33. When looking at the education support career space, working in a role such as a student support officer, you can expect a starting wage of $37 per hour while those at the highest end of the scale can earn $44 per hour. Entry level roles such as these can give you a taste of what it is like working with children in a classroom environment, and further professional development allows you to advance and receive a higher pay.
Who else is involved?
Working in education requires you to not only work with children, but also fellow educators, the families of the children, and the wider community. You will need to be open minded and culturally aware as modern society is diverse and there are many different groups you will be required to work with. These groups can include families who have immigrated and may have English as their second language, the Australian indigenous community, the LGTBQ community, and those with a different religious affiliation. Whichever nationally recognised course that you choose to take when entering into education, will build upon the knowledge and skill base you already possess to ensure you are prepared for your role in the education sector.
Final comments
A career in the education sector is a challenging yet rewarding experience. It gives you the opportunity to help shape developmental stages of a child’s life, in a variety of different roles from a teacher’s aide to a kindergarten assistant. There is always room for personal and professional development and while the pay is not spectacular, it is respectable. In the end you cannot put a price on a child’s future, and it is this that you would be a part of should your passion be there.
