A Day in the Life: NURSeRy teaCheR

Nursery teacher
Name: Lynne Betka Job: Headteacher Company: Little Blessings Nursery

What are your hours of work?

I work part-time but other teaching staff work on a full-time basis. The nursery is open from 7:30am to 6:00pm.

Is there a typical starting salary for an entrylevel position in your industry?

The starting salary we offer for an unqualied person is $15 per hour.

Describe a typical working day.

A typical day starts with devotion time. The children sing songs with actions and listen to a short story mainly about all the good things Jesus does for us. Its a fun session with an emphasis on God. Next we have fruit time, where the children sit at their appropriate group table. During fruit time, lunch and snacks, the teachers help to promote good eating practices by getting the children to sit properly and stay at the table. Obviously this is done on an age appropriate basis. At 9:30 we have lesson time. We follow a monthly curriculum with community helpers which includes numbers, letters, shapes, colours and textures. Each teacher plans and teaches her own group. At 10 its outside playtime. We have a number of outside toys as well as slides, climbing frames, etc, and at 10:30 the children come in for circle time. The teachers take it in turns to cover the joint sessions. This time may be spent looking at ash cards to reinforce colours or numbers, or it may be singing alphabet songs or nursery songs, or learning a new game. Lunch is served at 11, and at 11:30 the children all sit together for story time. This is a special time for the children to start engaging in stories. Most of our stories are interactive. The children love being able to make the animal noises, answer simple questions about the story or guess what going to happen next. By midday the cots are laid out and the children have a nap until 2:30. The afternoon is less structured, with outside and inside play. During this time the teachers are helping, demonstrating and reinforcing social skills such as fair play and how to share. The teachers at Little Blessings take great pride in trying to nd innovative ways of teaching the children new concepts. With small classes we are able to meet the individual childs needs and style of learning. By making it fun and accessible the children are able to enjoy an early stage of independent learning.

What earning potential does your job have?

Teaching has a reasonable earning potential for those who obtain their qualications.

What attracted you to your career?

A love of children attracted to me to this career; to be honest it is a career that only those who truly love children should be involved with.

What further qualifications might you need for future career progression?
At entry level a sound education is all thats required. However, to progress, you do need some form of childcare and development qualication and a teaching diploma along with experience and a rst aid certicate.

What are the essential skills you need to succeed in this role?
You need a sense of humour, great patience, an ability to be consistent and fair when disciplining, being able to listen and hear what children are saying, an ability to earn the trust of both children and parents, an ability to rejoice with them at their achievements and comfort them when they are upset or hurt, and being able to build a relationship not only with the children but also the parents.

What is your favourite thing about the job?

This is a difcult question to answer. I often ask the children what their favourite colour is; today it may be pink but tomorrow it may be blueit changes on a daily basis because they like all the colours. For me my favourite thing is the children. I just love being with them, I feel privileged to be part of their lives, and I love to see them progress. I love my greeting in the morning. What other job gives you a morning welcome with a sea of smiling faces running up to me, shouting teacher Lynne and hugging your legs? I know of no better place to be.

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FaSt tRaCK / Careers module / 2013-2014 45