Meet two of the new faces of Early Childhood Education and Care in Victoria! Suttida and Neelam are both studying the CHC30121 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care where they receive additional support through the Early Childhood Tertiary Partnerships (ECTP) program. Having both commenced their placements with early learning centres in March, each has both found the placement experience to highlight how a culturally diverse early learning workforce enriches the experience of children during their early years!

“I’m Neelam, and I’m from India. Cultural diversity of educators is so important in this industry. On my placement, I think I’m the only one in my centre who speaks Marathi - everybody else speaks another language. I do have one child; she’s from the same background as me. When I spoke to her in Marathi, she was looking at me, wondering ‘How does she speak my language?’! And then she started responding, and then she started really relating to me and our bond became strong. I haven’t really met the parents much because the times (that I work) don’t match. But I’m sure when that time comes, it will help with bonding with them too. They will be happy to speak in their own language. I think the diversity in our workforce, it broadens you, it makes you more open minded, like you can accept people how they are. It means we can bring up children with inclusive values. All these diverse perspectives, they come together and help make the child a better person. It’s beautiful for children to grow up with that.” - Neelam  

“I’m Suttida and I’m originally from Thailand, from the Karen ethnic group. On placement, I found the diversity of educators was great. When I start placement, I’m working with educators from lots of backgrounds. There’s Aussies, but there’s also educators from Nepal, the Philippines, Indonesia, from Sri Lanka, from India – we’re all from different backgrounds. I was so lucky, I would say that. We got to learn about each other’s cultures, celebrate each other’s events, and learn from each other’s different beliefs about raising and educating children. Educators create different activities (for children) with influence from their culture. I think the benefits of being a multicultural workforce is it’s a benefit to the children we educate, and the experience is a benefit to our own children. It’s like together we’re a garden. Not all the same plants, but different colours, different shapes, and together, it’s always beautiful. It makes better children and better educators.” - Suttida  

Funded by the Victorian Department of Education, VICSEG’s ECTP program aims to boost the size and diversity of the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) workforce through:  

• Recruiting participants from the language groups and locations with the highest need for culturally responsive ECEC services  

• Providing additional mentoring and other wraparound supports that help culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students to address and overcome common barriers to participation in training   

• Highlighting ECEC as a flexible and desirable career pathway that frequently aligns with the life experiences, values, and existing skills of CALD women   

• Debunking some of the unfortunate myths and attitudes that at times seek to devalue ECEC as a profession. We understand how our early childhood workforce provides real education to kids at the most crucial time in their development! 

For more information on VICSEG's ETCP program, please contact Marwinn Bangan (Program Manager): mbangan@vicsegnewfutures.org.au  

VICSEG is highly grateful to the Department of Education for this opportunity and ongoing support.