Certificate III in Early Childhood and Care

Overview

VET Qualification Code: CHC30121

This qualification reflects the role of educators in early childhood education and care who work in regulated children’s education and care services in Australia. They support children’s wellbeing, and development in the context of an approved learning framework. Educators use a range of well-developed skills and knowledge using discretion and judgment when carrying out their work in the context of established policies and procedures. They may work independently or under the guidance of others, though in some contexts that guidance may not be on-site.

Early childhood educators work in long day care centres, family day care, pre-schools or kindergartens.

To achieve this qualification, the individual must have completed a total of least 160 hours of work in a regulated children’s education and care service in Australia as detailed in the Assessment Requirements of units of competency. The total number of hours may be applied collectively across all units of competency that include the requirement for workplace hours.

No occupational licensing, certification or specific legislative requirements apply to this qualification at the time of publication.

Under the Education and Care Services National Law (2011) the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) publishes lists of approved early childhood education and care qualifications and information regarding regulatory requirements here: www.acecqa.gov.au.

Who should apply?

This course is ideally suited to:

People who want to work in the early childhood education and care industry:

working for the first time (school leavers, return to work etc.)
moving into this industry from another occupation/job.

Students may also be already working or upgrading their previous qualification and in this case would be recommended for our RPL pathway.

Career Pathway

Students who complete this course can expect to gain work as an educator in an approved early childhood service. Students who complete this course may wish to continue their education with the following courses:

CHC50121 – Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care

Course Duration

58 Weeks including holidays

Entry Requirements

The qualification guidelines state that there are no formal pre-requisites or entry requirements for this qualification; however, EduNex Training requires that students:

are over 18 years’ of age
provide a current Working with Children Check with no relevant offenses.
attend a selection interview as part of the enrolment process and demonstrate an interest in, knowledge of, and suitability for work in the childcare industry.
have a suitable level of language, learning and numeracy skills to ensure EduNex is able to support them to complete the course*
are willing and able to seek a work placement for 160 hours at a regulated long day care provider. This access to a regulated education and care service need not necessarily be secured at course commencement as the work placement can be completed at different times during the course, however, it must be arranged to fulfil course assessment requirements.

To approve a student workplace, EduNex Training requires that workplaces:

are an ACEQA registered education and care provider
provide all necessary documents, equipment and facilities as listed on the Work Placement Agreement (and in the Equipment & Facilities section of this Training and Assessment Strategy).
provide Supervision by staff member/s at all times who:
- hold this qualification, equivalent or higher
- are willing to provide feedback to students, sign off on completed hours and supervisor reports and liaise with EduNex about student progress
provide access for students to work with:
- at least three different babies and toddlers of varying age
- at least three children of varying ages between 0–5
agree to provide the student with sufficient hours to complete a minimum of 160 over the duration of the course
agree to ensure that no more than 2 students per room/supervisor at a time (during any given scheduled shift.

Course Structure

The CHC30121 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care requires the completion of the following 17 (including 15 core and 2 electives).

Test Type

International English Language Testing System

TOEFL internet-based test

Cambridge English: Advanced (Certificate in Advanced English)

Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic)

Occupational English Test

Score or Level

5.5

162

B for each test component

Course Status

Current

Qualification

1.0 Current as of 20^th July 2021. Refer to https://training.gov.au/Training/Details/CHC30121

Code

BSBESB401

BSBESB402

BSBESB403

BSBESB404

BSBESB301

BSBESB302

BSBSUS411

BSBMKG434

BSBTWK401

SIRXMKT006

Title

Research and develop business plans

Establish legal and risk management requirements of new business ventures

Plan finances for new business ventures

Market new business ventures

Investigate business opportunities

Develop and present business proposals

Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

Promote products and services

Build and maintain business relationships

Develop a social media strategy

Core/Elective

Core

Elective

Assessment Process

Units are assessed individually and in clusters via a range of assessment methods as indicated in the CHC30121 Delivery and Assessment Schedule.

Assessment requirements for each cluster or unit are outlined in the Student Assessment Booklet.

Assessment is typically conducted through:

Completion of projects that incorporate the requirements of the workplace that may include providing a written report of what happened, a review of the process, and portfolio documents. Some examples of projects included in the course are:

Observation of children over a period of time
Developing and implementing experiences
Preparing a nutrition plan
Delivering presentations
Conducting research at the work placement and answering questions in response to the research

Completion of set and guided journal entries based on work experience and logging of work hours
Response to written scenarios
Role plays conducted between the assessor and the student during workplace visits or during the webinar
Observation of skills by the assessor in the workplace completing set tasks
Third party (supervisor) confirmation of consistent workplace performance
Others, as outlined in the CHC30121- Delivery and Assessment Schedule.

At the beginning of each cluster, the trainer/ assessor will go through the arrangements for assessment with each student and provide details about the assessment requirements including due dates.

Assessment Methods

The following assessment methods are used for some or all units, please refer to the Delivery Sequence and Methods section of this Training & Assessment Strategy for details of specific units and tasks.

Definitions of each of these methods has been drawn from the ASQA Guide for developing assessment Tools (page 5), https://www.asqa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net2166/f/Guide_to_developing_assessment_tools.pdf

Direct observation – this will occur in the simulated environment or at workplace during the work placement visits by the trainer/assessor.
Product based methods –these generally reports, reflections, projects, presentations and photos of the environments that have been set up, etc.
Portfolio – workplace evidence in the form of documentation filled out by the student will be sighted.
Questioning –this will be a combination of written questions that will be answered in the student’s own time and verbal questions asked after observations
Third party evidence. This is used only for supplementary evidence; third party evidence providers do not make decisions of competency. Throughout the course the student’s workplace supervisor will provide third party evidence about the student’s abilities and duties.

Credit Transfer

Students with a significant amount of prior skills and/or knowledge or previous relevant qualifications are encouraged to apply for recognition of prior learning and/or credit transfer which may reduce the amount of training required

Upcoming Programs

There are currently no openings available for this course.