Early Childhood Trainee Educator

Reggio Emilia Early Learning Centre

Most traineeships begin on your first day. Ours begins with an examination.

Every year, thousands of people enter early childhood education in New South Wales. Most will leave the sector within five years. We have built our traineeship program to identify the small number who will not.

This is not an entry-level vacancy to be filled. It is the first year of a career, and we select for it accordingly.

The standard

Reggio Emilia Early Learning Centre operates seven centres across Sydney. The children in our care are at the single most consequential stage of human development. What happens in our rooms is not minding. It is the foundation of a person.

We hold ourselves to that. We ask the same of everyone who joins us — from their first day as a trainee.

How selection works

Admission into the traineeship is by examination. There is no other route.

Stage 1 — Application. Written application and CV, assessed against our criteria. Incomplete or generic applications are not progressed.

Stage 2 — Interview. A structured interview with our HR team and a Centre Manager.

Stage 3 — Intensive training. Successful applicants are invited to an intensive training program. Attendance is compulsory. The material is demanding and is delivered at pace.

Stage 4 — Examination. At the conclusion of the training, you will sit a written examination.

Those who pass are offered a traineeship. Those who do not are not.

We make no apology for this. The examination is the point. It tells us — before a single child is placed in your care — that you can absorb complex material quickly, that you take professional obligation seriously, and that you are the kind of person who prepares.

What we require

• Enrolment, or eligibility to enrol, in a Certificate III or Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care with a recognised RTO
• A valid NSW Working with Children Check clearance
• Completed Geccko Child Safety Training – Foundation and Advanced Training
• The capacity to complete and pass the pre-commencement training and examination
• Demonstrated commitment to a long-term career in early childhood education — not a stopgap, not a placeholder
• The character we cannot teach: warmth, patience, judgement, and the instinct to notice the child who needs you

No prior experience is required. Prior seriousness is.

What we commit to you

• A paid traineeship with a nationally recognised qualification on completion
• A Room Leader, Room Assistant and Centre Manager assigned to your development from day one
• Structured assessment against clear milestones: 50% of assessments complete at 6 months, 100% at 12 months
• Genuine progression — our Room Leaders, Centre Managers and Area Managers came up through our rooms
• Access to ongoing professional development throughout your career with us

Who should not apply

If you are looking for a job while you decide what to do, this is not it.

If you would prefer not to sit an examination, this is not it.

If you regard early childhood education as unskilled work, we would rather you found that out now than in one of our rooms.

We would rather receive ten applications from the right people than four hundred from everyone else.

To apply

Submit your CV and a covering letter of no more than one page addressing a single question:

Why do you intend to spend your career in early childhood education?

Applications that do not address the question above will not be assessed.

Pay: $23.10 per hour

Expected hours: 38.0 per week

Application Question(s):

• Why do you intend to spend your career in early childhood education?

Work Location: In person