Early childhood teaching employment-based pathways

• complete all course placements within your workplace if your workplace caters to all age ranges and has a qualified early childhood teacher
• study with the support of a Deakin teaching coach
• work and study with the support of a workplace mentor
• full-time or part-time study to suit your work and personal life.

Students in an employment-based pathway can study full time or part time, online or on campus.

• full-time accelerated course duration is 18 months
• full-time standard course duration is 2 years
• part-time course duration is 2.5 years.

You can study online at your convenience, with evening seminars recorded for later viewing. If your work schedule permits, you can also choose to study on campus.

You will be paired with a Deakin teaching coach who provides ongoing support for your professional growth, academic skills and practice. Deakin’s teaching coaches are early childhood specialists with teaching experience. They foster a learning community within small peer groups and offer individualised support to both students and their workplaces.

Employment-based pathway students may complete all course placements within their workplace if the workplace caters for all age groups and has a qualified early childhood teacher (ECT) mentor.

Pathway students requiring an external placement will have this arranged by the Professional Experience Office.

During official placement periods, students must work in a room with a specified age group and be mentored by a qualified ECT. Whenever possible, the student and mentor should work in the same room. To ensure a suitable mentoring environment, the following requirements apply to the EBP during official placement periods:

• Students and mentors must undertake planning time together, as per the ECT’s usual planning schedule.
• Students and mentors must have dedicated reflective discussion time of at least 30 minutes per week.
• Students and mentors must meet with the Deakin teaching coach for a meeting once during the placement, lasting at least 60 minutes.

To support EBP students in their study and placements, employers and centre directors are required to be informed about the program. For a student to be accepted into the program, employers must provide a letter of support and complete an online form agreeing to the terms and conditions.

We encourage you to discuss plans and practicalities with your employee to ensure their success. Consider the following:

• realistic workload while they study
• modification of staffing arrangements (e.g. room allocations and work hours) during placement, if necessary
• provision of leave to your employee, if they are required to undertake an external placement.
  

Where a student is required to complete an external placement, employers may be eligible to receive a one off $4,000 payment to offset associated costs.  Information is provided directly to eligible workplaces at the time of the applicable placement.

• Ararat Rural City
• Ballarat City
• Banyule City
• Brimbank City
• City of Casey
• City of Melton
• Hindmarsh Shire
• Horsham Rural City
• Hume City
• Southern Grampians Shire.

If you hold a Certificate III or diploma qualification in early childhood education and care, you can apply for the pathway and benefit from:

• Flexible study options: Choose from two delivery modes:
  1. Blended learning: Attend online evening seminars and on-campus intensive sessions twice per trimester.
  2. On-campus study: Attend face-to-face classes throughout the trimester.
• Professional connections: Build networks within your regional community through group learning sessions and mentoring.
• Relocation support: If you live outside the region and are considering relocating to Warrnambool, you may be eligible for a relocation incentive of up to $8,000.

The Victorian Department of Education has stipulated that only students living and working in the following LGAs, or who are willing to relocate to these LGAs, are eligible to participate in the South West Victoria employment-based pathway:

• Ararat Rural City
• Colac Otway Shire
• Corangamite Shire
• Glenelg Shire
• Horsham Rural City
• Southern Grampians Shire
• Warrnambool City.