Becoming a Childcare Assessor – Are you a Sharon?
Are you a full-time Nursery practitioner as well as a full-time mum, needing more flexible time? Have you thought about becoming a childcare assessor?
Are you a Sharon?
Sharon is a 28-year-old, mum of two. She has a two-year-old daughter called Mollie and a five-year-old son called Jenson. Any spare time she gets, she likes to spend it with her children; whether it be days out to the zoo or just spending time at home playing. Sharon is quite a creative individual who loves to try out new things. Especially anything to do with arts and crafts. That could also have something to do with why, on any given day, you can find heaps of play dough in every room in her house without fail.
Although any day out with her kids is a good day out for her, there is one week every year she looks forward to more than any other. This is when Sharon and her little ones go on a road trip up to the Lake District. Whilst she would love to stay down there longer with them, they can’t leave Milo and Boo home alone for too long. In case you’re curious… Milo is a ginger cat and Boo is the family rabbit. Sharon as you may have guessed, is also an animal lover!
Work, Work and More Work
If she’s not looking after the children or the animals, she’s at work. Sharon is an assistant manager at her local Nursery. She started off as an apprentice when she was just 16 – She completed her Level 3 in Early Years and has since worked her way up to a managerial role.
As much as she loves working in the childcare sector and has done for the past 12 years, she wants a better work-life balance; a bit less time with other people’s children and a bit more time with her own. So, Sharon feels it’s time to cut down on the hours and focus more on her family. Flexibility is key for her as she can then work around when the children are at nursery or school.
Becoming a Childcare Assessor
On a daily basis, Sharon is surrounded by apprentices that are looking to follow in her footsteps. She is always the first to offer the apprentices support on anything that they require assistance with. Whether it’s giving them advice and tips or just helping them with their assignments ready for when their assessor visits, Sharon is happy to help.
Although she woke up most days thinking about what she would do to have a bit more spare time with her children, Sharon never really actively looked for a new job. After all, she doesn’t want to waste all of that experience she has built up. But it was whilst she was helping one of the apprentices out one day, she had a moment of realisation I suppose you could say…
The next time the apprentice’s assessor came in, Sharon had a little chinwag with her. I say a little chinwag… It was more like Question Time, the NVQ Assessor edition. She asked them, “What’s it like being a Childcare assessor? What does it involve? What do you need to become an assessor?” etc etc. This question time was the turning point for Sharon.
The Assessing Life
Fast forward 6 months and Sharon whizzed her way through the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement. She’s now working as an Early Years Assessor. She has been able to take a step back from working full time in a nursery. This has given her the flexibility to work fewer hours and spend more time with her children; happy days! Also, sometimes she can even work from home, meaning she can still pick the children up from school and nursery. AND, most importantly of all, Shar, Mollie and Jenson can now get up to the Lake district two or three times a year instead of just the once!
If you would like more information about the Assessor Course or would like to speak to a member of our team, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can give us a call on 01205 805 155 or send an email to training@brooksandkirk.ac.uk.
Steve is a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
He provides Educational Consultancy to the 19+ sector as well as being an Assessor, IQA, EPA and Digital Marketing Professional. When not doing any of these he finds time, every now and then, to write blogs and articles.