A year abroad as an Assistant English Teacher was the catalyst that sparked Isabel Jukes interest in early childhood education.
What did you study?
I started a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drama) and then changed to the Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood).
What sparked your initial interest in early childhood education?
I changed to early childhood education because I was really interested in working in an industry that made a difference in the world and I also love working with young children. Putting these two things together was easy once I really thought about it. Whilst on a gap year, I worked as an Assistant English Teacher in Spain. I was working in a high school and realised quickly that the older age group wasn’t for me, but I realised that all my previous part-time work had been in education, and it was a strong interest. When I came back to Brisbane, I enrolled in a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood).
I didn’t know what early childhood education was when I was first looking at courses. Initially I thought I’d be a primary teacher. However, it became clear to me that the early childhood education degree simply gave me more options. I could open my career prospects to primary school, long day care, kindergarten, admin, director, consultant, and the list goes on.
What made you choose QUT?
I enrolled at QUT because they had the best reputation in Brisbane for the courses I chose. QUT was known for being more practical and hands-on for both Drama and Education. I had also heard that there were good job prospects in Education from being a QUT student.
What parts of the course have been most beneficial?
I think one of the best things about the Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) at QUT is that you gain professional experience in semester two of your first year. While you feel like you are being thrown into the deep end, you are given lots of support by the university and know straight away whether this is the career for you. My favourite subject from the degree was the Managing Challenging Student Behaviours Related to Complex Trauma. I have not only used the learnings from this unit in my teaching but I have also applied them to relationships in my private life.
Could you tell us about the professional experience you gained during your degree?
I have attended a few Queensland Early Childhood Sustainability Network (QECSN) meetings over the years (which were advertised by the course coordinator) and through those I connected with some teachers and professionals who allowed me to come and visit their kindergartens to see how they implement a bush kindy program. This was beneficial to me as I was able to observe different practices and how I can use these methods as an educator.
I was also able to secure a job at my current centre by networking with one of the tutors. I had expressed an interest in Risky and Nature Play to my lecturer Dr Sally Savage, who subsequently included it one of the weeks of content for EUB205 Child Health, Wellbeing, Safety and Movement. She then invited me to visit Everton Park Child Care and Development Centre, which is a well-renowned centre of Excellence (three times running) and has an in-house bush kindy program. At the time of the visit there were no positions open, but Sally contacted me a year later to tell me there were positions opening. I applied and started working at the centre. I took on the early childhood teacher role in September 2022 when the other teacher went on maternity leave and will be continuing the role in 2023.
What are your plans for the future?
I am already working as an early childhood teacher in a long day care setting, so I will continue this once I have graduated. I am interested in doing a long road trip around Australia in the not-too-distant future and undertaking casual supply work in early learning centres to broaden my experience. I also have an interest in community kindergartens, so I would like to explore working in that type of service one day as well. Other than that, I am open to seeing where the opportunities take me, while staying firmly within the early childhood sector.
What advice would you give future students?
I have two pieces of advice. The first is to secure a part-time or casual job in an early childhood setting while undertaking the degree. This can sometimes come out of your first professional experience as it did for me. I cannot stress how important it is to have ongoing practical experience outside of PEx. While you will get 90 days of professional experience through your course, it is very different being a prac student to working in a centre. This will be the difference between you being overwhelmed, burnt out and struggling in your first year as an ECT, to being challenged but overall successful. In my experience, employers will also generally look at your experience more than your grades.
The second piece of advice I have leads on from this. Do not be afraid to do the course on your own timeline. For the first three and a half years of my university experience, I did the course at a full-time subject load. This was exhausting when you add 10 to 20 hours of part-time work on the side. I decided to spread my third and fourth years out over three years, and this has honestly been the best decision I made. It has allowed me to take on more days at work and already have a year’s experience as an ECT before graduating, while still maintaining some work-life balance. Just ensure you consult someone from QUT that your new course progression will work with the different course requirements before committing to that path.
