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| Child care person in the spotlight
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What is your full name?
My name is Toni McClure. The children call me Tone. I am 43 years old.
Which service do you work in? How many staff and children are in your service?
I am with Illawarra Family Day Care. I work from home. I have 4 children throughout the day and also can have 3 children for before and after school care. We have around 45 educators working within our scheme. We are a committee run scheme and I am also an educator representative.
What is your professional background and career experience?
I worked at a local special needs school for 10 years before making the move to family day care. It was a very physical and fast paced but extremely rewarding job. My body needed a break.
What attracted you to a career in the early childhood sector?
I switched to early childhood as its not that much different to what I was doing before. Plus I also firmly believe that the children of today are tomorrow's future and they are worthy of our enthusiasm, energy and praise.
What does a ‘normal’ day look like for you?
My normal day is a 7.30am start. Everyone is here by 9am. We are doing all sorts of things like learning how to make patterns, counting, singing, Auslan sign language, letter recognition, craft, outdoor experiences, ball pit games, reading stories, the list is endless. Some days we go to a play session which is held at the scheme office. The children all love it.
They look forward to seeing the CDOs which they all have a great relationship with. The girls are really supportive. The office staff all come and say hi to them all. It's a great experience for them. We also visit our local Toy Library. It's a good way of being out in the community. It's a busy 10 hur day until the last one leaves at 5.45pm.
What makes your service unique?
I teach my children Auslan sign language. It's a wonderful language for them to learn. For a couple of the children it's their 3rd language. One of the girls might not be able to say what a letter is when we are doing letter recognition because she's forgotten but she may be able to sign it! They also go home and teach their parents. They all can show me on the globe where their families are from as we have a few multicultural families.
Our new (recycled) cubby house has guttering and down pipes so we can install a rainwater tank. We have just sourced a solar powered light for it as well. The children will be planting some veges around the cubby.
We are situated in a bushfire zone so we need to be careful of the things we have outside. Rules set by the council unfortunately.
What are some of the advantages of working in early childhood education and care?
An advantage of working in early childhood especially Family Day Care is the support you can offer the children and their families. You get to know them extremely well and they you. It's like one big extended family.
What are some of the biggest challenges facing the sector?
Challenges? There are so many: the government taking money from us and giving it to another for one. This doesn't make any sense at all, especially when they're behind the NQF and the money has gone to somewhere that isn't. Then we all struggle to stay afloat when there is a child care shortage?
The media is another issue. We always hear bad stories about LDCs and FDCs and they like to paint a bad picture, which gives the public a bad opinion of child care in general. Unfortunately people believe the tv and the paper and we need more good news stories.
How has your service changed to deal with these challenges?
As a scheme we have had to make some changes where levies are concerned. As a service myself I'm still running things the same.
How does the early childhood industry need to change to adapt to these challenges?
Somehow we need to get more good stuff in the media. I know some bad educators/ schemes need to be weeded out but need to get our cause out there.
What advice would you offer someone thinking about a career or looking for a promotion in early childhood education and care?
I think go for it. Early childhood is a lot of fun. It keeps you young and on your toes. It also keeps you grounded at the same time.
Be supportive of your scheme/service. Do all the training they offer you because ultimately you are investing in your business. It's easy to think I've worked all day I don't need to do training in my time but it's aimed at helping you. It's giving you more keys and tips to be the best educator you can. A supportive educator will help make a supportive network and in turn the scheme/service will flourish. Lean in and watch what happens!
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