Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care

Hi Jo! Tell us, who is this course good for?

Hello! Well, it's good for anyone who is looking to get their first job in childcare or early childhood education.

You are not actually allowed to work in a childcare centre - or run a family day care centre - unless you are enrolled in or have completed the Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care.

How easy is it to get a job in the sector? How do people get their first job?

Australia is experiencing a skills shortage in the sector, so there's A LOT of demand for qualified workers. And the Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care is the qualification you need to be in demand.

We see most students get their first job through their work placement. The Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care requires you to complete a 160 hour work placement as part of your training. The education and care service providers that take students usually have the intention to hire them full-time once they complete their qualification.

When you enrol in a course, your registered training organisation (RTO) will work with you to find a work placement.

Can you tell us more about the work placement?

Sure! So, like I said, students are required to complete a minimum 160 hour work placement as part of their training.

Your registered training organisation (RTO) will work with you to find a work placement. Sometimes they have good relationships with employers in the sector and they will basically just find and arrange a placement with an employer near where you live. Other RTOs like the student to try and find their own placement, but they'll offer a lot of support to help the student do that. Some students prefer to have everything arranged for them, which I understand. But it's important to know that it's not hard to find a work placement in this sector (if you follow the advice and take the support of your RTO). And if you organise your own work placement, you can get better insight into the employers you might like to work for.

Is the work placement paid?

The short answer is "no". Work placements are not supposed to be or required to be paid. You are completing training in a practical environment, not doing a paid job.

The longer answer is "maybe". You are allowed to work at a childcare centre if you are enrolled in the Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care. We've seen students who have been offered a job, contingent on them enrolling in the qualification. Once they have secured a job offer, they then look for a course to enrol in. Those students are able to complete their work placement as part of their paid employment. And they complete their study part-time: usually in the evenings with online study.

How much do childcare workers get paid?

Great question. 

So, according to Jobs and Skills Australia, the average full-time weekly earnings of those working in the sector are $1,146. That's based on a 2023 survey. But a lot has changed since then.

If we get more specific, the minimum hourly rate for a full-time employee working in the sector - who has the Certificate III qualification - is $27.17. That's the 2025 minimum award rate for a new employee with no experience. I want to emphasise "minimum" because childcare centres will often pay staff above award wages.

However, on 8 August 2024, the Australian Government announced it will support a wage increase for the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce through a new worker retention payment. The payment, which starts in December and runs for 2 years, will support a wage increase of 10% on top of the current national award rate in the first year and 15% above the current national award rate in the second year. This brings the new hourly rate to $32.61 for those working in participating childcare centres.

If you are working as a casual or doing overtime or doing evening and weekend shifts, you can expect a significantly higher hourly rate. Your wage also increases with experience.

What potential is there for future career growth?

We see a lot of qualified childcare workers coming back to study the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care part-time. The Diploma qualifies you to work in a leadership position, like being a Room Leader or Assistant Director. With the government wage increase support I mentioned earlier, an experienced Assistant Director would be earning $41.47 per hour.

So it's possible to study part-time?

Absolutely. We have a number of self-paced, online courses which are really designed for people who are working full-time and want to fit study around their job.

"Self-paced" means you set your own schedule and pace, up to a limit. You are not required to attend classes at a specific time. If you put in the extra hours, you can finish sooner. Theoretically, you could finish within 18 weeks, if you followed the full-time schedule I mentioned earlier. But realistically, most people won't want or be able to commit to that pace when studying online from home. There's usually an upper-limit of 18 months, so you do need to keep progressing at a minimum pace.

Interesting! I was going to ask about studying online...

Yes, it's possible to study online. That might seem a bit odd for something as hands-on as early childhood education and care. But because the course is structured into two parts - the work placement and the course units - it works quite well. Students can study the theoretical part - the 17 course units - online. The work placement obviously cannot be done online.

And how long does it take to finish the qualification?

We've got some intensive, full-time courses where students can qualify within 18 weeks. And that includes the work placement. By "intensive", I mean that the students are attending class, in-person, 5 days per week for a full day.

What's more common is students taking 12-18 months to complete the qualification. They are studying part-time in the evenings, while working another job during the day.

How much does the course cost? I heard that it's free!

Ah, our most asked question! The short answer is: it depends.

Some state governments have funding available for the Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care, which makes it free or lower cost for eligible students. And student eligibility rules are different from state to state.

It can also be the case that the "free" courses fill up very quickly and there are no places left available. The other issue we sometimes see is that - in certain states - you cannot study a "free" course online. This can be because of government rules, or simply because the RTO has chosen to do it this way (they have their reasons). 

Then, not every registered training organisation (RTO) offers government funded places. There are a variety of reasons for that. So they will have their own fees. But most of the RTOs we work with will have very good and affordable payment plans. Oh, also not every RTO offers courses in every state.

So, if a student wants to know the course fees, we ask them to take Enrola's 2 minute course advisor quiz. We'll ask all the questions we need to determine the fees. Then we make a course recommendation, where the student can compare the fees between courses in the recommendation.

Any tips for how to choose a course?

Ha! This is what Enrola exists to help with!

Enrola is a comparison marketplace for Australian vocational education courses, designed to help students find, compare, and enrol in the best courses with confidence. We offer expert course advice, transparent comparisons of fees and student reviews, and a fast, easy enrolment process. Our platform ensures you’re equipped with all the information you need to make a confident decision, without the pressure or confusion.

Students can get started with Enrola's 2 minute course advisor quiz. In the quiz, we ask all the questions we need to make a recommendation. This will include checking the student's eligibility for funding (if applicable) and their study preferences. 

Once we have the student's answers, we make a course recommendation. We always let the student know their cheapest option, because we know that cost is such an important factor in the decision. But we'll also recommend the course which best matches their preferences, even if it's not the cheapest.

We have a super quick and easy online enrolment process. But we also have course advisors on hand to answer student's questions and talk them through their best options.

So the cheapest course isn't always the best?

Sometimes it is! But not always.

Is a "free" course really the best if you have to wait 6 months for it to start and then quit your job to attend class?

Is a "cheap" course really best if you haven't studied for 15 years and you're completely unfamiliar with the childcare sector?

In those cases, it can be much better value to go with a course that has a higher overall course fee, but in which you are much more likely to succeed thanks to the strong student support, flexible delivery and using the RTO's strong industry network to get your first paid job in the sector. Our course advisors are always willing to talk through the pros and cons of different courses with students who use our platform.