How to Become a Childcare Centre Manager

Childcare centre managers are responsible for hiring and supervising childcare workers and ensuring the safety of children, staff and visitors. From planning educational activities to communicating with parents and carers, this role comes with a wide range of responsibilities.

If you’re looking to advance your career in childcare, a childcare centre manager qualification can help you get where you want to be.

Childcare Centre Job Description

These are some of the duties childcare centre managers are held accountable for:

• Recruiting childcare staff

• Organising rosters

• Managing financial records

• Maintaining compliancy with government regulations

• Ordering supplies for the centre and keeping track of inventory

• Implementing programs to assist in the physical and social developmental needs of children.

This role offers a lot of variety and your tasks will likely change on a day-to-day basis. As one of the highest ranking positions in the childcare industry, it involves accepting responsibility for the safety of all the children in your care.

Top Traits of a Childcare Centre Manager

Highly Organised

You’ll have a lot on your plate as a childcare centre manager and being organised will help you stay on top of everything. Having the ability to manage multiple deadlines at once while keeping track of complex logistics will enable you to keep your childcare centre organised while also providing a high standard of care and supervision.

Patience

Whether they’re newborn babies or in primary school, kids of all ages can be a handful and supervising them is far from easy. Children learn and develop differently, and there may be circumstances where having lots of patience will help you cater for the unique needs of children. Being patient will also help you deal with the stress involved with managing a childcare centre.

Enthusiasm

Having an enthusiastic personality will make the children in your care feel welcomed and motivate them to participate in learning activities and be their best selves. Maintaining a high level of enthusiasm and a positive attitude in stressful situations takes a lot of energy, so you’ll need plenty of physical and mental stamina to succeed as a childcare centre manager.

Communication Skills

Communicating effectively with children is essential to their development. It’s important that you know how to speak with and listen to kids in a way that makes them feel important and encouraged. In addition to communicating with children, childcare centre managers also need to speak with staff and parents about a wide range of issues.

Childcare Centre Manager Salary

You’ll have great earning potential as a childcare centre manager. According to Seek, the average childcare centre manager salary in Australia is between $95k and $110k a year (wages can vary depending on your experience and location). As your experience increases, so will your earning capacity.

Benefits of Working as a Childcare Centre Manager

Like most jobs, being a childcare centre manager comes with its fair share of challenges. But it’s also an extremely rewarding job, and the more difficult aspects of this role are far outweighed by the fulfilment you’ll get from watching children grow and learn.

These are some of the other benefits of becoming a childcare centre manager:

• Good job security 

• Variety of day-to-day duties

• Great earning potential

• Career progression opportunities

• Ability to shape the culture of your childcare centre.

If you’re interested in becoming a childcare centre manager, earning a formal qualification will give you the necessary skills and knowledge. Whether you’re new to the industry or you already have experience in childcare, our Education and Care Courses cover a range of qualifications to suit aspiring childcare centre managers.

For more career advice across a range of industries, check out these articles.

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