To ask anyone that works woth children for career advice

[Imustbemad00]

I currently work with children, low paid job. It’s term time which is great for right now. I have level 2 and 3 early years qualification.

Long term, it’s not for me. I want more, I’m capable of more. I like having responsibility, I like learning and also, even if this sounds weird, I like feeling important, like I’m doing something worthwhile.

The problem I’m having, is that my knowledge of other jobs I could go into is quite limited. Pbviously I only
Know about jobs I have come into contact with. So I’m asking if anyone works with children and in what capacity.

I don’t want to be a teacher or a social worker I don’t think. I’m thinking of starting an early childhood foundation degree in September, but don’t want to do it if it’s not going to make any difference to what job I can get...

I’ve thought about a family support worker or something along those lines, or something a bit more office based, behind the scenes. Or a mixture of both. Really have no idea

Do you still want to work with children?

I want more, I’m capable of more. I like having responsibility

Unfortunately I find the more responsibility you have the less you find yourself working with children, and spending more time on the computer, doing paperwork etc.

I’m not really sure. I suppose I don’t mind not directly being with the children all the time. Butnwould like to stay in that industry as at the very least, it’s all I know and the only experience and qualifications I have.

I just need to find something I’d like to do and then decide how to get there. I could probably go to uni to do the foundation degree right now because it would fit around my hours, but don’t want to waste my time on a useless degree.

You will need experience of working with supporting children and families outside a childcare setting if you want to move into family support/ early intervention project worker type roles. If I were you I would consider:

• Volunteering with a children's charity - find one that runs the service you think you might like to work in - a lot of children's centres for example are run by Barnardos.

• A qualification in health and social care - HND is a good one as you get experience of different settings and as it's a higher qualification you can apply for a student loan.

These type of jobs tend to be one hour of admin per one hour of working with families so a mixture of being out and about and office based, not sure if that would appeal to you.

The best way for you to decide what to do next though would be to look at local job adverts and see which jobs appeal to you and what qualifications and experience you would need to apply.

Health and Social Care qualifications have lots of aspects that don’t really interest me though, I think a HND is equivalent to my level 3 early years? I do not know if I’d even be accepted on one woth only a early years background. I’ll definitely look into it though, volunteering sounds good if o can fit it in to gain experience. Thanks

I was wrong, hnd’s are level 5.

I have a similar kind of job to the one you want, OP.. But it's pretty low-paid.

SW or teaching are, I think, the best paid jobs in this area. Unless you got into something like play therapist. Lots of training needed though.

How about working as a Nursery Nurse with a Health Visiting team? Still working with children but some independence, identifying issues earlt, ensuring children get support, working with parents etc

Ive worked in various ‘low paid’ childcare roles, but never wanted to progress to teaching (currently working in EYFS). I’ve decided to go into children’s nursing and will start training in September, with plans to go into health visiting. Have you considered children’s health at all?

I've worked in childcare for a long time but the last few years I've been a NVQ childcare assessor and tutor. You get to go to lots of different settings and as I'm quite nosey I enjoy that

You could work onto being a early years advisory role. I specialise in children with SEN but basically I get the best of both worlds - some days with children doing observations, showing the nursery staff how they can help the children, and other days I'm delivering training with adults, or getting my head around strategic practice in the local authority. I started off in low paid job and never imagined id be where I am now. I did do a degree in early years too.

Social worker or teaching are out of the question,
Partly because of the amount of training needed, then the workload, and I’ve never seen anyone in those professions recommend them. Although social work does appeal. Maybe something similar on a lower level, if anyone knows of a specific role? I guess a family support worker rocks those boxes.
@Chaosandmadness What does being an assessor entail, and what experience and paperwork do you need?

@Imustbemad00 For assessing I had to complete a level 3 assessing award and PTTLS (it's called something else now but I can't remember it's name) I have a level 4 childcare qualification so can assess up to that level. Different training providers ask for different levels of qualification so it would depend where you are applying. Childcare assessors are in short supply so you could apply for a post as unqualified and they would train you on the job. That's how I got into it. There is a fair amount of paperwork involved but if you stay on top of it then it's manageable. I manage my own diary and work from home when I'm not out visiting learners in their workplaces. I enjoy it and the flexibility is good for me

Portage?

www.portage.org.uk

@Chaosandmadness thankyou. I quite like the sound of it. I’ll look into it. Is it a full time job?

@PeachScone health visiting interests me too. But is it a long time training?

It’s going to be hard. Ideally I’d like to fit training/studying around my job as I’m only part time but If I move too much away from early years it probably won’t be possible and I do not know how I’d cope financially.

The early years Fda I could of fit around work and wouldn’t need a seperate placement. But I just don’t know what I could do with it.

I only work part time and can do my hours when it suits me through the week although I try to stick to set days if possible.

Nursery manager or administrator?

Ofsted registered childminder?
Foster carer?
Run a breakfast/after school club?
Early years advisor for your local authority?

Or what about becoming a forest school leader

Social work assistant which is basically the same as family support worker