Find a Job you'll Love!
It's never too late to kickstart a new career, and if you're a parent who's used childcare, you might be interested in becoming an educator who provides it! If so, Belinda Hilton is a great inspiration.
BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE
If you're going back to an uninspiring role, or looking for a totally new direction after becoming a parent, then early childhood education and care (ECEC) is definitely a career to consider!
There's great demand for people who want to make a positive difference in children's lives, and if you're worried that you're too old for a traineeship, or too far down your existing career path, then Belinda Hilton is living proof that you can come to an early learning career later in life.
Belinda spent years and years working in retail, hospitality, tourism and academia, but she's now made a very successful leap to early learning, and is an inspiraton to us all!
Belinda is currently doing a traineeship with Goodstart Early Learning, and is part of the Goodstart Hawthorne team in sunny Queensland.
She’s well on her way to becoming a qualified Early Childhood Educator, and if you’re curious about why she made a move (and how you could do something similar), then here are four factors that motivated Belinda to pursue a childcare career after working as a university teacher for 10 long years!
1. Belinda gained first-hand experience as a childcare customer.
Her son attended a Goodstart centre from babyhood, and by the time he went off to big school, Belinda had seen the many benefits that early childhood education and care (ECEC) brought to her child.
In his formative first five years, Belinda saw her son grow and overcome challenges with the support of his early educators, then make a successful move to Prep, armed with the skills he’d learnt in Kindy.
This experience gave Belinda a real sense of why ECEC matters so much, and how good it feels to see a positive difference being made in a child’s life.
2. Belinda became increasingly interested in childhood concepts, and realised that her skills as a university teacher were transferable to early learning.
Belinda was teaching a course on children’s media when pregnant with her son, and over time, she became interested in, and knowledgeable about, concepts of childhood.
She says, “I learned about the issues that can arise around child safety, ethics, and digital rights. And I was inspired by the amazing opportunities for children's engagement and early education in this space.”
Once she started pondering a move from academia to ECEC, Belinda realised that her creative thinking and inclusive communication skills would easily cross the ‘divide’ between adult education and early learning.
Belinda is a big believer in individualised teaching, instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, and realised that this is a strong focus in ECEC, where programs are tailored to each child’s needs, wants, interests and abilities.
3. Belinda was finding the university sector increasingly difficult to work in, while the early learning sector was actively seeking passionate, permanent staff.
Although some people associate academia with cushy tenures and (almost) endless holidays, the reality isn’t so rosy.
Belinda explains that, “The university sector has become a heavily casualised industry ... Secure work is hard to come by and most tutors are employed on short term contracts, for a small portion of the year. There is also a culture of overwork, long hours, and unpaid labour.”
On the flipside, Belinda saw the genuine pleasure that her son’s educators took in their profession, the smorgasbord of roles on offer (many of them permanent), and a real shift in the public perception of childcare workers.
Instead of being seen as babysitters, educators are now recognised as early childhood professionals who make a huge difference in the most formative years of a child’s life and get to work with little humans who are increasingly capable, wonderfully curious, and very cute!
4. Once Belinda decided to pursue an early learning career, Goodstart made it really easy to get started.
Goodstart is Australia’s largest provider of ECEC, and they have an established traineeship program which is open to school-leavers, career-changers and anyone who genuinely wants to join the Goodstart family and make a great difference in children’s lives.
The program enables trainees to earn while they learn, with the added benefit of on-the-job training, the promise of a permanent role at the end, and all course fees covered by Goodstart.
Employee benefits, discounts and incentives can also make a Goodstart traineeship even more convenient and financially attractive; and once Belinda had totally opened her mind to an early learning career, she didn’t encounter any barrier to entry.
Goodstart traineeships are organised in-centre, so when Belinda learnt that her son’s centre had recently hired some trainees, she simply asked about a traineeship for herself!
Belinda officially started her traineeship in October 2023, and since then, she’s spent time in every room of Goodstart Hawthorne, with all ages, and has already completed enough trainee hours to be counted in the educator to child ratio.
All in all, it’s been a great move! Belinda has no regrets about those decades in different careers, and she’s loving ‘the now,’ while also thinking about the future.
Belinda gets day-to-day mentoring as a centre-based trainee, plus regular feedback, and she’s enjoying learning from her skilled and experienced colleagues, and having amazing interactions with the children in her care.
She’s going really well with her Cert III studies (which will supplement the PhD she already has!), and once Belinda’s a qualified Early Childhood Educator, her sights are set on Educational Leadership.
At Goodstart, there’s professional development and study support available to help Belinda level up her career in time, and right now, she’s very happy with the enriching, energetic and fun job she’s found!
If you’d like to find yourself a new career too, then a traineeship is something you can definitely explore.
It’s easy to search for Goodstart Trainee Educator vacancies here, and you can also search for quality Goodstart centres via the KindiCare app or website, then ask if they have any trainee openings.
We wish you luck, and wherever you go, we hope your next career move is a great one!
