Working with children requires a broad range of skills and qualities. Essentially children ask that you have empathy, that you are a good listener and from a recent survey smell nice! You should also have the ability to support and nurture their learning and development. Building relationships and excellent communication are also key skills, not just with children but parents or carers too. Ideally you should have lots of energy and whilst children can be demanding many practitioners tell us that working with children is possibly the most fulfilling work you can do.

There are many places where you can work with children: nurseries, pre-schools, breakfast/after-school clubs and crèches. Or you could be a self-employed Childminder working from home. We offer an on-line facility to register your interest and to book onto a briefing session. We have also seen Children's Centres extending their range of services with a number of job opportunities requiring community focussed and parent partnership skills.

We are committed to address the under represented groups in our workforce, such as men, minority ethnic groups, those who have a disabilty or who over forty. We would be delighted to hear from you if are from one of these groups.

To view examples of the areas of Childcare and people working in a variety of roles in Essex please click on the links to the left of the screen.

To find out more information about the Essex Children's Trust Approach and the initiatives to address the Every Child Matters agenda please refer to the Children and Young Peoples Plan website.

The Schools, Children and Families workforce team are collaboratively developing ways to support the many career and progression pathways that working with Children offers. Perhaps you have not previously considered fostering or working in Social Care. In Essex we are striving to ensure that our most vulnerable and at risk children are able to have access to the right care and support. To find out more please contact our Social Care team who would be delighted to hear from you:

Adoption and Fostering: click here.

Social Care: click here.

Schools: click here.