Family Day Care Educator

A Family Day Care Educator provides home-based early childhood education and care to small groups of children, typically aged from birth to school age. They plan and deliver educational activities, manage behaviour, ensure child safety and wellbeing, and communicate regularly with families about their child's development and progress. The role operates within the National Quality Framework (NQF) and must hold current early childhood qualifications and Working With Children Check clearance.

Plan and implement developmentally appropriate learning activities aligned to the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) or other curriculum frameworks. Supervise children's play and social interactions to ensure safety and facilitate peer relationships. Prepare and serve nutritionally balanced meals and snacks, catering for dietary requirements and allergies. Support children's physical development through outdoor play, gross motor activities, and fine motor skill practice. Respond to children's emotional needs, comfort distressed children, and model positive behaviour management strategies. Record observations of individual children's learning and development using documented assessment methods. Communicate daily with parents/carers about their child's activities, behaviour, learning milestones, and any concerns. Maintain a safe, clean and hygienic environment compliant with NSW/state-based childcare regulations and health standards.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

Pay is low and capped. You'll do physically demanding work (lifting, bending, constant supervision) for wages below many trades. If you're changing careers for better income, this isn't it.

In practice, most jobs are in metro areas where more families need childcare. Regional and remote areas have far fewer positions. Some home-based roles exist everywhere, but centre-based work concentrates around growing suburbs with young families.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 4211, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Active Listeningcore
• Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
• Confidentiality and Privacy Compliancecore
• Cultural Awareness and Sensitivitycore
• Empathy and Emotional Intelligencecore
• Incident Reportingcore
• Inclusive Practicecore
• Multitaskingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Record Managementcore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracy
• Carry out wound care
• Case Note Documentation
• Clean rooms
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Goal Setting and Planning
• Problem Solving
• Professional Boundaries Maintenance
• Risk Identification
• Stakeholder Communication
• Written Communication

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

What Family Day Care Educator workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 30 October 2026