Work Matters: Careers - Where do I go from here?

Name: Natalie Hares

Age: 25

Current Role: Children's services co-ordinator at a children's centre, which is part of a multi-agency resource centre.

Qualifications: HND in Early Childhood Studies, BA Honours in Early Childhood Studies with Education and EYP status

Experience:

I began as a student, carrying out some practice experience as part of my HND in a number of schools and nurseries. One of the schools I volunteered in approached me to start a breakfast club. I then moved back home and carried out a holiday play scheme, working with children aged eight to 13 with learning difficulties, for the summer, before completing my degree.

During this time, I worked in a few nurseries providing supply cover. On completing my degree, I began working at my current children's centre as a nursery nurse and after-school club supervisor. In 2007, I took up my current role.

What I do:

I oversee the children's services that are delivered through the centre. They are on split sites and include two nurseries. There is also an after-school club and creche.

Along with the children's centre manager, I am responsible for ensuring the services delivered meet the core objectives of supporting children and families. I also do inter-agency work through the centre and the multi-agency resource centre, and strive to improve the partnership with parents and carers. Through the parents' forum they can be fully involved in decision-making at the nurseries.

As well as working with the staff teams, children and families, I regularly work with the centre manager, family support worker, support teacher and health professional. The inter-agency work is crucial to the organisation's overall success and a fundamental element of successful partnership working.

Ambition:

I would like to complete my masters in Early Childhood Studies in the foreseeable future.

Options:

Natalie's role gives her extensive experience of working with different professionals and agencies, all with varying experiences, roles and responsibilities. This is a healthy context within which to build her professional knowledge, as well as develop her communication, negotiation, partnership working and leadership skills. In addition, it will enable her to consider a diverse range of roles in the future. Particularly as local children and young people's services create newly defined ways of inter-agency working and develop new roles in relation to different service delivery.

Children and young people's strategic co-ordinator

As Natalie develops her skills of managing service delivery and project and performance management across two children's centre sites, she may consider a job for which these skills would be suited.

This role focuses on providing strategic direction within a local authority, developing frameworks of support to integrated-working within the existing children's services. Natalie would be involved in a wider team commitment to developing policy and planning to support services that ensure best outcomes for children and young people, and so continue to establish leadership qualities.

- Salary range ú33,200-ú38,400

Family learning co-ordinator

In view of the direct involvement Natalie has had with families and children, along with the education elements of her qualifications, she may consider this interesting role.

A family learning co-ordinator is usually responsible for establishing and developing learning programmes that support and involve parents and carers in their child's learning. The programmes can involve families learning as a group.

She would liaise directly with staff in nurseries, outreach services and creches to reach the families for whom she would develop learning programmes and sessions.

Her qualifications as an Early Years Professional are ideal for this type of role, and skills such as good communication, negotiation, relationship building, understanding of family diversity and inter-professional working are essential to successfully carry out the work.

- Salary range ú26,900-ú28,400

MA in Early Childhood Studies

Natalie says she has an ambition to complete further advanced level study in Early Years. It could be possible to study for a Masters degree while working full time. Many universities offer part-time courses that fit in well with professional demands.

An advanced degree would enable Natalie to research professional practice across various disciplines relating to early years settings, as well as studying children's play, communication, contexts of community and approaches to childhood traditions.

If Natalie wanted to advance her career and maybe run services at a senior strategic level, a masters degree would stand her in good stead. Some masters' degrees include a PGCE, which would give her an option to teach in early years.

- Available at various universities, but some have specialist Early Childhood Studies research centres.

Tina Jefferies, The Red Space Company

www.redspacecompany.com, email info@redspacecompany.com.