Margaret River Community Centre for Children (MRCCC) is taking action to address the nation-wide shortage in skilled early learning educators, by offering on-the-job training opportunities.
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Recognised as an exemplary early childhood education and care (ECEC) service, the Community Centre for Children caters to babies through to five-year olds and, due to ongoing demand, maintains a waitlist.
"We have a great team of full time, part time and casual educators, but local demand for places in our Centre means we need more" said Amber Fairbrass, MRCCC Coordinator.
"We are offering a number of traineeships, as a win-win solution.
"Trainees benefit from on-the-job training, learning as they work and earning an income while they gain their qualification, plus they have ongoing employment at the end of their study.
"We gain from the passion of new recruits who are applying what they learn everyday when they come to work and we can address the current staff shortage sooner."
Another advantage is the employer has new team members who are supported by the Registered Training Organisation during the learning phase, so the high quality of care is not compromised.
Students can apply their learnings from the course in their workplace straightaway and bring real-world experiences back to the classroom to learn from as well.
MRCCC has attained the rating of Exceeding in all National Quality Standards and was one of only two centres in Western Australia to participate with Macquarie University in a research project on providing exemplary early childhood education and care.
"We work hard to support continuous quality improvement in all we do. We provide exceptional care for our children and families and we look after our staff to the same standard. Our Centre promotes diversity and inclusivity and we have a multicultural staff of mixed ages" said Amber.
"We encourage people who have a passion for working with children to consider the traineeship opportunities. There is flexibility in the timing, with part- and full time options for people to maintain the work-study-life balance with their other responsibilities."
Trainees can achieve the Certificate 3 in Early Childhood Education in as little as 12 months or a diploma can be completed with further study.
"We can start trainees straight into the Cert 3 or if they have this already, they can study their Diploma while they work with us."
Anyone interested in applying for a traineeship in Early Childhood Education with MRCCC can start the process by sending an email to childcare@mrcc.com.au, with a short statement on their interests and why they would like to work with children at the Community Centre for Children.
