Rewarding

Working with children is more than just a job – it’s your chance to make a real difference. You will have the enjoyment of working with children and the satisfaction of being involved in a child's intellectual, social, and emotional development.

Challenging

Working with children provides constant challenges, personally and professionally. Among other things you will need to be patient, caring, hardworking and fun. The job will vary from day to day and you could be planning and supervising activities, organising a day trip, observing children and writing reports on their progress or sharing information about a child’s development with their parents or carers.

Progressive

This is a dynamic and expanding sector and there are jobs at every level, offering great opportunities to get training, gain qualifications and develop your career.

You can start your career with very little experience and study for a qualification at level 2 or 3 while you are working. You could also climb the career ladder by gaining higher qualifications and becoming a supervisor or deputy leader. Once you have gained the qualifications and experience, you may even wish to set up your own nursery or out of school club.

Flexible

A job in childcare or early education can also offer flexibility of hours, which would allow you to work around family or study commitments. You could work part-time or full-time all year round, just during the holidays or during term time only, allowing you to have school holidays free.

Fun

A job working with children, whether in a nursery, pre-school, out of school club or as a childminder, is primarily a fun one. You will be helping children learn through play and could be organising group activities or working with a child on a one-to-one basis.

If all this sounds interesting, and you have a passion for working with young children this could be the career for you.