Advancing to a Managerial Role in Early Years

Whether it's a managerial role, future opportunities outside of working with children, pursuing research or a huge sense of achievement you're after, a level 8 BA (Hons) in Early Childhood Care and Education degree can take you to the next step in your career.

Natasha Murphy progressed her career to become the Manager at Portobello Montessori School after gaining her BA (Hons) in Early Childhood Care and Education, something she never imagined she would achieve. 

But Natasha went even further and gained her MA in Early Childhood Studies, and tutored on level 5 and level 6 Early Learning & Care programmes. She later took her qualifications and moved to Australia where she works as an after-school manager.

“Studying a level 8 at Portobello Institute allowed me to progress on to a managerial role in my setting and it allowed me to progress my career further to tutoring on the level 5 and level 6 programmes.  

“Completing your level 8 allows you to choose an area of interest to you and study it in depth. For me, I chose a topic that I was interested in and that was also relevant to my setting and that was home visits and transitions.

“It also led me to the tutoring role and I really feel like completing your level 8 is the way forward as our sector is becoming more professionalised.  

“Síolta suggests that those in a managerial role should hold a qualification at at least degree level.

“My advice to anyone out there thinking about progressing on to their level 8 is first of all do it and second of all when you are choosing your studies, choose a topic that is interesting to you because that makes the work a lot easier.  

“Progressing from my level 7 to level 8 I didn’t really see any difference, I actually found level 8 more enjoyable as I was studying something I had a big interest in and I thought the transition was minimal compared to the transition from level 6 to level 7.  

“My favourite part about my honours degree was definitely undertaking research on a topic that I was interested in and it allowed me to gain the views and opinions of parents and practitioners in my setting.  

“I didn’t just gain my BA (Hons) in Early Childhood Care and Education, I also gained way more confidence than I ever thought I would have in myself.  

“One of my favourite things about my level 8 was definitely having the printed version of my thesis because this is all of my hard work and it’s just a great sense of achievement,” she said. 

Since progressing through all of her qualifications from level 6 to level 9 at Portobello Institute, Natasha has followed her passion to Australia. 

Find Out More

For more information, you can book a 15-minute consultation call with our expert advisor, Sarah Coyne, email sarah.coyne@portobelloinstitute.com or call 01 892 0028.