Early Career Project Officer initiative

After being accepted into the role of an Early Career Project Officer, one of the things that has stood out to me is that ACECQA’s vision of ‘the best start in life for every Australian child’ has also turned out to be the ‘best start’ to my own fulfilling career.

Reflecting on my time with ACECQA, I have found that four aspects of both the organisation and projects that I’ve worked on have had the most influential impact. On my professional development, my identity and my future career and growth as an education and care professional.

Leaping into the unknown

At the beginning of 2019, I was happily working part time at a long day care centre, while also completing my fourth year in my Bachelor of Education (Birth to Five Years) degree, full-time. One day an email from one of my university lecturers landed in my inbox. It was the advertisement from ACECQA for a role as an early career project officer. An opportunity that I decided to take a chance on. Taking a huge leap into the unknown, I decided to apply. I was successful in my application and thrilled to be asked to join the team. But suddenly, I was faced with juggling full-time work and study. Some of my colleagues joked that I was, ‘moving to the dark side’.

All my life I have regularly set professional goals for myself, and frequently reflect on them to ensure that they were suitable for me as I developed my own professional identity. While this wasn’t part of my plan, and I wasn’t sure what to expect when I took this leap into the unknown, I’m certainly glad I did.

I never envisioned myself being a ‘city office worker’, wearing corporate clothing, catching peak hour trains, and attending multiple meetings within a day. Yet, here I am, having completed a contract with ACECQA, and absolutely loving every second of city and work life.

ACECQA as the sector’s bright light

The more I immersed myself into the role of an early career project officer, the more I found ACECQA to be a bright light guiding our sector. Through the development of a wealth of free resources, extensive research and implementation of programs to support services to continually improve, ACECQA aims to share with each teacher, educator and service the practical ways they can improve the early learning experiences for every Australian child.

The comprehensive work produced by ACECQA’s Board and Governance, Business Services, Policy and Strategic Programs, Educational Leadership and Strategy, Communications and Consistency Teams all strive to guide the sector to improve outcomes for all Australian children and families.

I am now even more committed to, and will continue to be, an advocate of the role ACECQA plays. I want all teachers and educators to realise that they are supported, the information or clarification you need is just a phone call or click away.

Extraordinary professionals influencing my professional identity

I have been lucky enough to witness first-hand how the teams at ACECQA work collaboratively together to deliver the six objectives of the National Quality Framework (NQF).

Working alongside so many highly intelligent, knowledgeable, experienced and kind professionals has been incredibly formative to the development of my own professional identity. While I have gained a comprehensive understanding of the responsibilities of those working in the sector, I have also had my eyes opened to the many varied roles that people hold within our sector.

Links in the chain

As I now approach the completion of my Bachelor of Education, I feel that I have just completed an ‘intensive summer school’ paid internship style role. I have been given the opportunity to develop workshops, interactive educational resources and training packages for the Educational Leadership and Sector Support, and Regulatory Authority Support teams.

These experiences have been inextricably linked to the content taught at university, I have been able to add a deeper level of knowledge to my assignments and collaborative tutorial discussions. As well as giving me the confidence to advocate for quality early learning and my sector within the long day care service I work and my wider community.

I now have an invaluable amount of ‘behind the scenes’ information regarding the implementation of the NQF and embedding the NQS in curriculum decision-making practices.

Linking this all together, I have become a strong advocate for ACECQA. I see ACECQA as empowering the sector to embrace the National Quality Framework in providing an understanding of why quality education and care for children is important and how I, as an educator, can make that happen.

I would encourage all pre-service teachers to also take a leap into the unknown and to follow ACECQA’s motto to find the ‘best start’ to their own fulfilling career within our early learning sector.