Now a qualified Early Childhood Teacher, Bec works as a Kindergarten teacher at Goodstart Seventeen Mile Rocks, QLD.
She believes that by working with children aged six weeks to five, she can make the biggest difference and most positive impact on children’s lives. And she’s having a great experience at work, too.
Bec said: “I started my Bachelor of Education (Primary) at QUT in 2020. But I switched to Early Childhood because I was leaning more towards teaching younger children.
“The early childhood degree allowed me a lot of freedom in where I could teach. With this qualification, you can teach birth to Grade 6, giving me more options. I had a lot of time to decide where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do.
“I got a job at this Goodstart centre in the first six months of starting my course. The team were great from the beginning, supporting me to learn in a real-life scenario about the topic I was doing my degree in.”
Bec Gibson champions prioritising children's social-emotional development and wellbeing
Bec had started right around Covid lockdowns, face masks and drop-offs at the front door – a tricky time. But she ‘just felt like it was normal.’
“That was how childcare was because that was all my experience,” said Bec, “I didn't see the people who I was going to Uni with a lot. It was tough. And so, I relied more on work for my education. I was learning from my colleagues, which was a meaningful experience.”
She enjoyed her time at Goodstart through Uni. But Bec didn’t make her mind up about which subsection of education to work in until her final year. She was considering all her options until the final moment, as she wanted to make sure she was making the best choice.
Bec said: “In the end, there are several reasons that made me want to stay and teach at Goodstart. Firstly, the people who I worked with were so lovely. I already had a strong connection with them and knowing that my first year as a qualified teacher would not be easy, I felt I’d be supported.
“Also, the good working conditions and greater work-life balance was a factor. Being able to leave your work at the door and having that extra non-contact time means a lot. You can do more outside your normal working hours if you want, but there’s no expectation or need. I have enough time to do everything I want to at work.
“In comparison, I know that teaching in primary school can be stressful. Teachers tend to get to work early, stay late, and then take work home on the weekends and after school.”
Bec also loves making her own curriculum decisions in her classroom.
"There is such as heavy focus on developing children's literacy and numeracy knowledge in primary school.
"People tend to forget that before they can do this, children need to be able to sit for longer than 10 minutes, have strong handwriting muscles, be able to problem solve, interact with their peers and regulate their emotions to navigate the social complexities of life.
"If children don’t have those skills when they start school they tend to get left behind. So, in my kindy curriculum, I specifically teach all those forgotten skills.
"My team and I take time throughout the day to stop any planned academic activity and prioritise children’s social-emotional development above all else when it is needed.
"Being able to do that brings me a lot of joy." - Bec
Bec acknowledges that ‘different children need different things.' And her work environment at Goodstart allows her to lean into that.
She said: “I can base everything we do on the children's interests. For example, if I had planned to teach something on recycling one day but then we find a cool bug in the playground, it could completely change. And we'd still be supporting children's learning. Talking about the bug, its habitat, what it’s eating… The children are still developing, just in a different way. And we can move the original plan to another day.”
Bec references anecdotes from people she knows who work at places where the curriculum is more set. She said: “They don't have decision-making capabilities nor management supportive of their initiative.
“Hearing that makes me grateful and realise the benefits that I have, working here. So, I appreciate Goodstart. But it would also be different in every centre, and it’s our little community at Seventeen Mile Rocks that really makes a difference.”
Recognition and comments from happy families also give Bec the warm and fuzzies at work.
“When a staff member, a parent or even a child takes the time to validate the positive impact and benefits of the work I’m doing, it means the world. It’s so nice to be seen and acknowledged. I’m grateful to all the people who have encouraged me.”