Our dramatic play area. Students are responsible for planning and implementing all the activities with children in these areas. They must make sure the activities are apporpriate and safe. The lecturer has an opportunity to give instant feedback and support as they are working alongside the student.
It lookes like a typical swedish pre-school!
ReplyDeleteThanks! We try to make the environment as 'real life' as possible so that when the students actually do a work placement in a child care service they have had some experience.
ReplyDeleteWhat age do children attend pre-school in Sweden?
Usually when they are between 1 and 2 years of age. We have a very good social insurance system in Sweden so the parents can stay at home for a long time.
ReplyDeleteThe children are not allowed to be younger than 1 year when they start. How old are they in Australia?
We offer care from 6 weeks (sounds so young I know!). Our social support system is not as 'family friendly' as Sweden!! Our government has recently introduced paid parental leave which allows fathers to take some time off work when their child is born.
DeleteIn Western Australia children can attend long day care or family daycare (operates from an educators home) up until the age of about 4 or 5. They go to kindy for two and a half days when they are four, and then enter full time pre-primary when they are five. This is known as the year before formal schooling.
Yes! 6 weeks does sound young...
DeleteBut that is very good news with the parental leave that also allow fathers to take time off. How long is this paid parental leave?
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DeleteJody, Your facilities are really great! How many lecturers work there? I guess you are one? Do the students study in this real-life environment all the time? And for how long - how long is the education or the training that the students attend.
ReplyDeletewe have 3-4 lecturers who work in this facility at Midland. We also deliver children's services training at three other campuses with perhaps 10 - 12 lecturers in total.
DeleteAt the moment I don't have a teaching role but will be resuming next year.
Our students use this real life environment and also go and do placement in child care centres. A Certificate III qualification takes 6 months full time and a Diploma takes 12 months full time.
I see! And before Cert III you have to pass Cert II and Cert I? How long time of full-time studies does it take for a diploma?
DeleteHi Ingrid,
DeleteWe have a Cert II qualification but it is quite generic and does not give the necessary qualification to work. It gives students a bit of a 'taste' of what it is like to work in the community services area. Students can choose to focus on children's services, aged care, youth work or disability.
Students can enter directly in to a Cert III with no previous qualification.
If a student studies the Diploma full time it takes 12 months, but they must have done the Cert III first.
How do the students use this real life environment? Is this where the playgroup comes to? How often do you have the playgroup?
ReplyDeleteDo you have night students as well as day students? If so, how do the night students get practice working with children?
Hi Susanne,
DeleteYes, this is where we run the playgroup. Parents and children come in each week and participate in various activities. The only difference is that our students are planning and running the sessions rather than the parents doing it themselves. We have a 'parents room' where they can go and grab a coffee and have a chat without their children. It is OK becuase they are only in the next room and the students can easily access the parents if needed.
Our lecturers all have children's servcies qualifications themselves and one lecturer mentors the students each week in the playgroup.
I wonder how many hour the children spend in child care in a week. I understand that it can change from family to family but what is mostly common?
ReplyDeleteHi Petra,
DeleteIt varies from two or three hours to fifty hours a week. The cost of care is quite expensive so I'm not sure that many families would be utilising it full time. It's only a guess, but I'd say the average would be 2-5 days a week.