Child care professionals share a commitment to improving society by creating dynamic and nurturing care environments for Australia's youngest learners. This month we feature an interview with Katrina Dyson.

What is your name?

My name is Katrina Dyson, a lot of the children just call me mum, as I have children that attend the centre and they call me mum. The children call staff members Mrs, Mr or Miss.

Which centre do you work in?

I work at Oceantides Child Care in Busselton WA, we have six staff members, and the centre is licensed for 30 children.

What is your professional background and career experience?

I became a nanny when I was 17, after I had had my first three kids I became a family day care, after having my fourth child I went to TAFE and studied my Diploma. When I finished my Diploma I opened my own child care centre, as we had too many children of our own which impacted on my ability to provide care to families on my waiting list. The centre was opened in October 2004, I went on to do my Advanced Diploma in Children's Services, I enrolled in a double Bachelor of Psychology and Children's Services and had another baby. As the media kept talking about the coming need for centres to have an Early Childhood Teacher I switched Majors to Early Childhood Teaching and had another baby. Last year was a disastrous year, what with staff sickness and all of the changes within the industry I had to give something up in order not to have a break down/burn out, and my study was the only thing that I (reluctantly) could let go.

I was born to work with children right from when I was a little girl I was always 'taking off' with peoples children. I love watching children develop and learn new things, I always wanted 12 children of my own, but we stopped at six.

What does a 'normal' day look like for you?

My normal day is:

6:00 alarm goes off and one of my boys comes in and asks for milk.

6:10 the alarm goes off again and I get dressed for work.

6:30 I start cooking the day's meal for the centre and do some organisation for the day ahead.

7:15 first child arrives and we feed the animals and take outside toys outside, clean up the seed that the birds have dropped, take the birds and hang them outside etc.

8:15 first staff member arrives and I take the opportunity to serve all the meals onto individual plates, wrap them and put them in the fridge.

8:30 on hot days we are usually outside by now, the third staff member arrives (qualified) at this stage I usually try and run into the office to do some paperwork until the numbers of children require me to be on the floor. A couple of days a week I get to have most of the day in the office, the other three days I am on the floor.

9:30 usually I get morning tea ready occasionally it's another staff member

If I am having an office day I come out to cover someone's lunch break and then go back in, if I am on the floor I usually work through and don't have a lunch break. During school terms a supervising officer/qualified comes in and I leave to do school pick-ups. I then go home for an hour before returning to do the bus run and take children home.

What makes your centre unique?

Our centre is unique because we are a cross between a family day care and a child care centre. We are very family oriented, we become friends with a lot of our families and half of the staff are from the one family. We have had at least one male staff member, on staff, for the last six years.

What are some of the advantages of working in the child care sector?

A big advantage for me is being able to take my children to work, have the freedom to breast feed them and keep them close to me.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing the child care sector?

The biggest challenges have been getting supervising officer certificates, obtaining qualified staff (minimum selection means you have to take what you can get whether they are right for the centre or not) and having staff that are dedicated to the profession.

I think the low wages means that most people move on to higher paying jobs, and others come into the job thinking that 'It is just babysitting' and that it is going to be a slack job, of course we all know that that is not the case.

How has your centre changed to deal with these challenges?

I have had to take on more work hours myself, I have to try and convince older staff to change their ways of doing things to fit in with the EYLF. We have introduced more plants, added animals, a worm farm, we are soon to get chooks and we bought some tools and wood for the children to use.

How does the industry need to change to adapt to these challenges?

The industry needs to have access to EYLF trained staff, coming out of TAFE, or similar institutions, have access to grants for embedding sustainable environments and practices, even in private centres. We also need more professional development sessions from various sources so that we can get different ideas of how to go about meeting the changes.

What advice would you offer someone thinking about a career or looking for a promotion in child care?

Make sure that you have the passion for child development because sometimes that's all that keeps you going and this is not an easy job. Read widely, go to as many PDs as you can and never stop studying.

2012 was a bad year for me, I felt like I was drowning in responsibilities, I was working 50 + hours a week, not taking lunch breaks, studying and going home to a husband and six children. My resolution this year is to take care of me, work fewer hours, take lunch breaks and have one day off a week to spend by myself. I might even return to part time study, and whether you may think it crazy or not I actually like studying! Remember to take care of yourself because if you burnout the children lose out on having an educator that really makes a difference in their lives.