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Passionate students graduate with Certificate III in Children’ Services
by Leah Wyles 17 March 2014
W
e are the 2013/14 Indigenous graduates of Certificate III Children Services from QLD. The Replay Group, Australian Centre for Workplace Learning run training programs for Indigenous people who want to become qualified in Aged Care & Childcare with the help from the Australian Dept of Prime Minister & Cabinet who funds the EQS (Employment Qualification Support) Program. Without these programs it would not have been possible for us to achieve our goals and our dreams.
I, like others in this group, found it impossible to learn through a TAFE course as we could not wrap our heads around reading textbooks and not being able to link it with the practical work as many TAFE courses do not offer. Replay Group find the jobs for us first so that we can link the written work with practical experience. It’s such a better way of learning for Indigenous people. With these programs it makes it possible for us to achieve our dreams. I’m going on to complete my Diploma with Replay Group and some of the other graduates are doing the same, depending on
whether funding it is approved that is. I would love to give some recognition to these students as most did have personal issues throughout the course but did graduate and I am so proud they did. We are all still employed in our centres and think that it is the best thing that could have happened for us, as we are all passionate about being early chilhood educators. What a great way also to bring cultural awareness to childcare, not only to the employers but most of all to the children and their parents since working in my childcare centre.
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