Child education specialist

The child educator is that professional that plans, carries out and assesses early childhood care programmes, applying teaching and learning methods that promote the development of personal autonomy and expression and communication skills in children between 0 and 6 years of age.

• Plan and assess the educational and childcare processes together with the intervention team.

• Prepare and carry out activities aimed at the development of autonomy habits and attention to basic needs.
  Prepare and supervise the spaces and materials of the activity, in accordance with current legislation.

Regulated training and graduates

• Professional Training Course(s) in the field of Socio-cultural and Community Services - Advanced Level: Early Childhood Education
• Grau: Educació infantil

Complementary training

For the characterisctics of this profession it is recommended to carry out complementary academic education in sociocultural entertainment, psychomotor education or music therapy. In addition, it is important to have the food manipulator certificate.

Other specific skills

In addition to speaking and writing Catalan and Spanish correctly, an early childhood education specialist should have sufficient knowledge of English to identify and express basic, very descriptive words such as colours, animals, fruit and vegetables, etc. This is because school education plans often include children beginning to learn English.

This professional also needs to be an intermediate user of office programs, email and Internet browsers as they will have to handle assessment documents and send them to other professionals and parents. Likewise, they need to know how digital learning content management systems work since in addition to traditional teaching methods, since ICT are now indispensable tools that have to be used in early childhood education schools.

Experience in early education centers, recreation centers and programmes of attention to the early childhood is valued.

Nonetheless, a lack of experience is not an impediment to finding work as an early childhood education specialist if a candidate has a positive attitude and a vocation for the profession.

In order to get tenure in a state school a candidate must pass a competitive public examination.

Initiative: Level 2

Empathy: Level 3

Team work and cooperation: Level 1

Flexibility and change management: Level 2

Planning and organisation: Level 2

Analytical thought: Level 1

Training

People who work in the field of training are interested in transmitting knowledge, responsibilities and values through learning techniques and educational processes, with a view to helping others develop their skills and abilities. Activities that are specific to this field include prior assessment of the student's characteristics and needs, design of the teaching materials, as well as monitoring and support during the learning process.

Social community worker

Individuals related to the social/community field have an interest in working to improve people's social well-being and quality of life, as well as enhance their integration into their social, family and/or work environment. The professional activities that are common in this field include providing special support and aid to people at risk of social exclusion, designing programmes and implementing resources for the social and cultural stimulation of an area, and acting as mediators for conflict resolution in family, social or interpersonal environments. These activities involve constant interaction with people in order to improve their psychological and social well-being.

Diversity and inclusive education teacher

Facilitator of extra-curricular services

Educator in technology for the blind.

Physical education teacher

Secondary and high school teacher

• Work hours

  The normal hours of nursery and early childhood education schools are between 8 am and 6 pm Monday to Friday, with working hours of between 37.5 and 40 hours per week. However, depending on the school's needs the work day may be compressed into the period from 8 am to 3 pm. There is also the possibility of doing a part-time work.

• Salary

  The estimated remuneration varies between 13.020€ and 26.000€, depending on the experience and the ownership of the center.
  
  This remuneration can change depending on the working hours, the time employment of the worker and either it is a public or a private institution, usually with a lower retribution in private centers.

• Other features

  An early childhood education specialist may work in early childhood education schools, nursery schools or in institutions that run specific programmes for children aged 0 to 6 at risk of social exclusion or family support programmes. In addition, this professional may work as an educator on recreation and free time programmes or activities for children under 6 in play centres, cultural centres, libraries and school farms.

• Professional category

  Technician