Career Options in Childcare

Continuing education and advancement

by Janet Farley

Employees are also required to complete standardized training modules within the first six months of their hire date.  Pay increases accompany various benchmarks throughout the training.  Topics in the modules include reading assignments, classroom activities and tests and observations by others.  Employees have 18 months to successfully complete the training at which point they earn a child development associate credential.  Some colleges may even accept the credential as college credit towards an associate’s degree.

“Career advancement within the field is certainly possible,” says Pollack, who is living proof of that fact.  She progressed from provider to training and curriculum specialist to manager over a period of years and military transfers, after racking up the experience, training and education required along the way.  “Because the training programs are standardized, I was able to pick up where I had left off every time we PCS’ed to a new place,” she says.

Job positions with the child development centers on a military installation may be classified as either GS (appropriated fund) or NAF (non-appropriated fund) flexible or regular. Typically, applicants will start out in the NAF flexible slots, which do not come with benefits. Once someone is in a NAF regular slot or a GS slot, a number of benefits may be available including medical, dental, life insurance, accumulation of sick and annual, leave and ability to take leave without pay. Starting salaries are around $9.91 per hour, depending on the location. Pay raises occur as training modules are successfully completed.  In addition to FCC and child care centers, potential child care workers might find a job in the school-age services program, usually located on the military installation.

Job opportunities are not limited to on base, however.  Outside the front gate, you may find a number of different employers who offer positions in the field of child care.  Some of the larger companies offer impressive benefit packages to include medical, dental, vision, life insurance, 401(k), educational assistance/tuition reimbursement, childcare tuition discounts, vacation, paid holiday and personal time. Some even offer fitness club discounts and credit union memberships.

Wherever you are stationed, you can almost be sure that job opportunities will exist in this career field.  For additional information about the field itself and various available credentials, consult the National Child Care Information Center at NCCIC.org; the Council for Professional Recognition at CDAConcil.org; the National Child Care Association at NCCANet.org or the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies at NACCRRA.org.