Average wage for
Employment Levels
There are currently around 40,800 people employed as Childhood Educators in Australia. According to the Department of Employment, in the next few years (by 2023), roughly 49,800 people will be working within the profession.
Employment by State
New South Wales employs the largest number of Childhood Educators in Australia, with 39.6%. However the lowest amount of Childhood Educators are located in NT, with only 0.7%.
Gender Split
This is an extremely female dominated industry with 96.2% of Childhood Educators being women and only 3.8% male.
Age Brackets
The most popular age for people within this job is 25-34 years old, with 31.8%. A small percentage (0.7%) of people get into this career path younger, from 15-19 years old. Around 2.4% of people are still working in this job at 65 and over.
Hours Worked
Childhood Educators work an average of 34.5 hours a week which is 5.5 hours less than the average for all occupations.
Education Level
The majority of Childhood Educators have a Bachelor qualification (46.5%) or postgraduate level qualification (21.6%). 94.6% have a Certificate III or higher, whilst 5.5% have a qualification which is Year 12 or lower.
Childhood Educator Duties & Tasks

- Implement programmes to help develop children socially, mentally and physically
- Help children to play with materials
- Supervise children at all times
- Help children with eating, going to the toilet and other basic activities
- Prepare meals and snacks
- Make sure areas are kept clean, tidy and safe
- Observe children during programmes to monitor their development, which can be discussed with parents
Professional Associations & Groups

*The information provided on this page is from the Department of Employment’s Job Outlook website. All salary ranges are from Payscale. Where jobs are not exact matches, job areas have been used. This information is to be used as a guide only.