Qualities of a Great Childhood Educator

A childcare educator is a role that attracts exceptional people who have a passion for learning and helping others. It is a career that is highly valued and growing in demand each and every day. Being a childcare educator requires giving lots of love, pushing through some of the toughest times and being a source of brightness for every child who steps through the doors. It’s an important role to play as we continue to promote healthy development and prepare children for future endeavours.

What qualities should a great educator have?

As childcare educators, here are some of the most important qualities we value in our staff at Child’s Play ELC.

1. Good Communication

Educators need to be able to communicate effectively in a variety of forms. Clear and engaged communication is essential because educators communicate with parents, young children, other educators and community leaders. Good communication skills enable us to break down complex situations into more understandable ideas and keep everyone informed.

Communication is key when it comes to engaging young children. It’s vital that we provide them with an environment where they feel comfortable expressing themselves and trying new ways to communicate (i.e. talking). One of the ways we are able to provide this environment is by always using age-appropriate language that is respectful and excited. Excited educators make the best educators as they can truly relate to the child’s joy and enthusiasm for the day.

2. Passionate, Authentic and Love Learning

Educators who love to learn and love to teach create the best learning environments because they are always looking for new ways to engage and understand their students. As a childhood educator, it is all about motivating children to develop and reach milestones, and the best way to achieve this is by bringing a positive attitude and fun mindset to work every day.

Your love for learning, your confidence and awareness of a child’s needs are incredibly important in helping empathise with children.

3. Respect and Inclusivity

It’s important at Child’s Play ELC that we make everyone feel welcome and included. One of the ways we can ensure this is by understanding their wants and needs from childcare. For some families, it is about preparing their children for success; for others, it is about providing children with an area where they can engage with children their own age.

As educators, we make a special effort to ensure everyone can join group activities and try new things. We understand that there are lots of different learning styles, and with each task, we plan and identify how we can adjust the task to be inclusive to all learners.

4. Creativity

Creativity is a core focus at Child’s Play ELC. Our curriculums are centred around inquiry-based metrics where children’s interests and the environment informs lessons, and educators adapt the lesson plans to work with the day. By being creative educators, we can provide new activities which give the children the opportunity to explore and understand new perspectives.

It’s important that we engage our children in new activities and continue to have a creative mindset because one of our key roles as educators is to help them develop interests that fuel their love for learning.

5. Organised

Young children thrive on routines and organisation. It promotes a positive learning environment where children feel comfortable and are willing to take risks to reach new milestones. As teachers, we need to be able to understand and implement routines effectively each day to ensure we provide the best learning environment.

Some of the ways we are able to remain organised are by facilitating creativity and risk-taking through planned activities and by planning and preparing alternative activities with the team for children who appear disengaged.

6. Collaborative

Childhood education is very much a team environment where everyone can express themselves and assist in providing the best learning environment. By collaborating with parents and children, we are able to achieve a greater understanding of the goals and learning styles that best suit our children which ensures our ability to provide the best learning environment.

Choose a Career in Childcare

If you are thinking about pursuing a career in childcare, Child’s Play ELC has a number of opportunities available. We are nationally recognised as Excellent providers of high-quality early childhood education and continue to strive for best practices. Check out our Careers Page to find out more.