When Prity Pandey landed in Young from her native India last year, little did she know the move would lead to a complete change of career. Photo: TAFE NSW.
Prity Pandey landed in the Hilltops town of Young from her native India last year, eager for a new start but unsure of her job prospects in her adopted homeland.
Already a qualified accountant, the mother-of-one soon discovered the untapped mine of abundant childcare jobs in the town and set about securing the necessary qualifications to transition into the industry.
“We had a joint family arrangement in India so I spent a lot of time caring for kids, calming them and getting them into activities,” Ms Pandey said.
Given the large, state-of-the-art TAFE campus in town, it wasn’t too much of a stretch for her to reach out to the vocational education and training provider to help pave the way to her new career.
She enrolled in a Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care course earlier this year which provided her with the knowledge and experience to join the booming industry.
Ms Pandey said her TAFE NSW Young course helped “join the dots” for her, giving her important context about the local sector and the practical skills and experience to make an immediate impact in her new job.
“I had a complete blank about how this type of education worked in Australia; the legal requirements, regulations, how to plan activities to maximise a child’s cognitive, physical and social development,” she said.
“I found it was a great opportunity to polish my skills and pursue a career in childcare, providing me a great profession with real job security.”
Within months of starting the course, Ms Pandey had secured a job as an early childhood educator at Goodstart Young.
“This is my career now and TAFE NSW has given me the practical knowledge to work in the industry while I’m still studying,” she said.
She says she has found her calling and next year plans to enrol in the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care and hopes to go on to complete a bachelor degree before eventually owning her own preschool.
TAFE NSW Young early childhood teacher Julie Kemp said employment outcomes for TAFE NSW graduates were exceptional and Ms Pandey was testament to that.
“There are new childcare centres popping up everywhere and they are screaming out to employ TAFE NSW graduates,” she said.
“It’s a wonderful job if you have a desire to help others and have a positive impact on a child’s life. And no two days are ever the same,” she said.
This good news story comes as the early childhood sector grapples with a nationwide staffing crisis, a shortage of at least 10,000 trained early childhood educators, according to the Australian Childcare Alliance.
The NSW Government last year committed $12.2 million towards scholarships for early childhood educators to grow the state’s childcare workforce, while in February it announced 100 new public preschools would be built statewide by 2027.
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