Out of School Hours Care Educator

An Out of School Hours Care Educator supervises and facilitates educational and recreational activities for school-aged children in before-school, after-school, and vacation care settings in Australia. They plan and implement age-appropriate programmes, monitor child behaviour and safety, and maintain communication with parents, educators, and school staff to support child development and wellbeing.

Plan and deliver structured and unstructured activities including games, arts and crafts, sports, and educational programmes tailored to primary school age groups. Supervise children during transition times and outdoor play, implementing active supervision strategies to identify and mitigate safety hazards. Monitor and respond to children's physical, emotional, and social needs, recognising signs of distress or developmental concerns and escalating to centre leaders when required. Maintain daily attendance and incident logs, documenting child absences, accidents, behavioural incidents, and concerns in compliance with service policies. Implement behaviour guidance strategies that are consistent with the service's discipline policy and the National Quality Standards for Early Childhood Education and Care. Communicate with parents at pickup and drop-off, providing brief updates on child behaviour, activities, and wellbeing. Prepare and serve meals and snacks according to dietary requirements and restrictions documented in child enrolment records. Maintain safe and hygienic indoor and outdoor environments, including cleaning play areas, equipment, and surfaces to prevent infection transmission.

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.

The pay is low and won't climb much higher without moving into management. You're also on your feet constantly, managing noise and chaos, and you carry real responsibility if a child gets hurt on your watch. Burnout is common.

Jobs are everywhere schools operate: suburbs and inner cities across all states. Most centres are in metro areas near family populations. Practically speaking, regional areas have fewer services, so competition is tighter. Almost no remote work exists.

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
• Conflict De-escalationcore
• Cultural Awareness and Sensitivitycore
• Empathy and Emotional Intelligencecore
• Incident Reportingcore
• Inclusive Practicecore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Professional Boundaries Maintenancecore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Carry out wound care
• Case Note Documentation
• Clean rooms
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Disability Awareness and Inclusion
• Group Facilitation
• Multitasking
• Record Management
• 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 Out of School Hours Care Educator workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 10 October 2026