An innovative new accelerated early childhood teaching degree is helping increase the number of kinder teachers amid a critical industry-wide shortage of qualified teachers.
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Australian Catholic University hope to qualify almost 450 new kinder teachers in the first three intakes of their new accelerated Bachelor of Early Childhood Education being offered in Ballarat and Melbourne.
State government early childhood education reforms will require all people teaching three and four year old kinder to have an early childhood education degree by 2029, rather than the diploma level training they are currently required to have.
"It's incredibly exciting but creates a real compounding workforce shortage where you have people working in the role and requiring qualification by that time," said ACU course coordinator Dr Victoria Minson.
The university created an 18-month accelerated degree allowing diploma-qualified early childhood educators working in centres to upskill and gain the necessary qualification to work as a kinder teacher while working at the same time.
The first 92 graduates, including Bobbi Cox, gained their qualification late last year with a further 200 already studying and a third intake of 150 expected to begin in March.
Ms Cox, who has been working in early childhood for 13 years and is now an early education centre director, studied the course at ACU Ballarat in its first intake and juggled study, work, a two-year-old and her miner husband away for long periods of time to graduate in 2023.
"It was very, very busy and it definitely was an intense way to study but it was manageable," she said.
"I always wanted to study (the bachelor degree) because I was assistant director, and one thing I found I really struggled with was to support the kinder teachers from a management level, because I felt they had more knowledge than me, so it was really hard to help guide them when they had done more study.
"I felt like to be the best manager for everybody across the service that I could be, I wanted to have skill and knowledge of the kinder sector."
During her studies Ms Cox also worked in the kinder room to gain experience with the age group, and she did step into the kinder teacher role for three months last year when the teacher went on maternity leave.
The incentive of no HECS fees, as the course is funded by the state government, and support for a student's workplace to backfill their position when they undertake 80 days of placement, also helped Ms Cox decide to study.
To achieve the short time frame, students study from January until November/December with subjects delivered in nine week intensive blocks rather than the traditional 12.
"We build on their strength, knowing they are not school leavers studying early childhood straight out of school, they've often worked in the sector for many years and got that understanding so we build on practical knowledge."
Virtual reality is also used to enhance and accelerate the learning experience and build connections between theory and practice. In one unit, where students learn the history of childhood, VR puts them in to a virtual timeline of childhood featuring 3D images of older-style classrooms, how desks are spaced out, resources and toys to compare to modern settings.
"Seeing things and experiencing them creates more unique learning opportunities because in accelerating the course you need to find ways to have an impact in a quick among of time," Dr Minson said.
"Also they are learning something new for the very first time, which is something children face multiple times a day."
