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| Child care person in the spotlight:
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| Marian Iskander
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What is your name?
My name is Marian Iskander and I'm 27 years old.
Which centre do you work in? How many staff and children are in the centre?
I'm the owner and director of Little Winners Early Learning Centre in Hurstville. We are a small 22 place centre in Hurstville with a small team of passionate educators who love what they do and are committed and dedicated to providing a high quality service and care to our children.
What is your professional background and career experience?
My professional background is in business and management and I've worked for many years in higher education and business development. I‘ve completed my Certificate III in Children's Services and I'm currently finishing my Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care and planning to do a Master's degree in Early Childhood in 2016.
What attracted you to a career in child care?
I love children and I've always had a passion for education. After I had a child of my own I developed a strong interest in early childhood. Child care is a very rewarding industry as I get to apply my experience and management skills in running and leading a successful business as well as providing a stimulating and friendly atmosphere that meets the individual needs of children and their families.
What does a ‘normal' day look like for you?
Well, in child care every day is different; it's a very dynamic environment! Everyday is an opportunity for me to meet new families, interact with children and work with my passionate team. A typical day would be moving around, interacting with children and families, discussing with my team new ideas, events, fundraising programs and exciting projects for our children.
What makes your service unique?
Our Centre was recently assessed by the Department of Education and Communities and we were rated at Exceeding the National Quality Standard. We are the first centre in the Hurstville area to be awarded this rating.
We are a private centre but we operate very much like a community child care centre.
Our Educational Leader and Nominated Supervisor has established great relationships with Hurstville community groups and local businesses as she speaks Cantonese which allowed our centre to be actively engaged with the local community.
We have an exceptional team of educators who are very sensitive to children's learning needs as well as to their social and emotional needs.
We have an outstanding educational program that is led and implemented by our highly qualified educational leader and nominated supervisor. Our educational program is exceeding the National Quality Standard as we provide unique learning experiences such as cooking experiences, gardening, culturally diverse group activities and much more!
All our staff members are bilingual and speak to young children in their home languages (Chinese, Nepalese, Indian & Arabic).
We have two chickens that lay eggs everyday, a rooster and two guinea pigs.
We are very passionate about sustainability and we love teaching our children how to care for their environment and sustainable practices are embedded and actively promoted in our centre.
What are some of the advantages of working in the child care sector?
Working in the child care sector is very rewarding, educators and child care providers play a very important role in children's development and learning during the early years. It's a huge responsibility yet very rewarding and self-fulfilling.
What are some of the biggest challenges facing the child care sector?
Changes in staff to child ratios might be a bit challenging for some of the small services as the ratio of the 2-3 age group will change from 1:8 to 1:5 in 2016 which will have a great impact on staffing arrangements.
How has your centre changed to deal with these challenges?
Our centre is already exceeding in quality area 4 – staffing arrangements as our staff to child ratio is always higher than the requirement and I'm always on the premises covering educator's breaks and working flexibly to maintain supervision requirements at all times which will allows us to overcome any challenges/changes in ratio requirements in 2016.
How does the industry need to change to adapt to these challenges?
I guess child care providers will need to understand the reasons for these changes and the positive impact it will have on the quality of service they provide. The main challenge will be the increase in costs so perhaps it's a good opportunity for child care providers to show commitment to training and take on more trainees to meet ratio requirements whilst supporting new trainees to enter the industry and start their careers in child care, in my opinion that is a win-win situation.
What advice would you offer someone thinking about a career or looking for a promotion in child care?
Our industry needs passionate people who put children first above everything else. It's the best industry if you love children and want to make a difference in early childhood education.
Dream big, nothing is impossible. Always believe in yourself and always know that hard work pays off!
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