Posted by In this blog post, we are going to look at 35 free online childcare training courses with certificates that you can take to gain the knowledge and qualifications you need to become a successful childcare provider.
Being a childcare provider is often a rewarding yet challenging job.
If you are looking for an opportunity to increase your knowledge and qualifications, then taking a free online childcare training course could be the perfect option for you.
Overview of Childcare Training: Job Outlook and Required Skills
Childcare providers are workers with special training who take care of children, primarily. Their jobs encompass the all-around responsibility of taking care of children’s welfare while their parents are away.
Depending on the job description, childcare providers may be required to monitor children’s safety, help them [children] keep good hygiene, change diapers of infants, watch for signs of emotional or developmental problems, help teach them how to maintain routines, etc.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 170,100 projected job openings available for childcare providers each year. These include roles to work for families as either live-in nannies, or childcare workers with related organizations like infant schools, nurseries, or orphanages, or elsewhere.
By 2031, childcare workers’ employment is expected to rise to more than 1 million in the US alone; which is about a 6% change in employment.
As a matter of fact, there has always been a need for childcare providers; whether for private families who go to work daily or organizations that take care of kids. As a result, these professionals must really love kids to be able to find fulfillment in this work.
Moreover, there are more benefits to working as a childcare provider than we have outlined. We will talk about them in a bit.
Salary
When it comes down to “how much do childcare providers make?”, it’s not as straightforward to answer. The popular recruitment platform, Indeed, posits that childcare providers in the US averagely earn about $38,171 per year for their services.
Now, in most other places, this may be more. For example, 11,400 reported that they earn $42,155 on average in Canada, from the same childcare provision services.
Education
Therefore, childcare providers earn just about the family income level. And may not earn substantially enough for luxury living.
Part of this reason is because of the low requirement for entry-level. Childcare providers typically have their highest educational qualification as high school cert holders, or GED (the equivalent). This partly makes them low-earners because not much is expected of them educationally.
However, suppose you want to make a high-paying career out of this.
In that case, you can go to college and complete a bachelor’s degree in any field such as education, psychology, or family consumer services. This increases your worth as a professional childcare provider and bumps up your salary.
This is because your role as a childcare provider is dynamic; and as a professional working with children in their crucial stages of development, it is important that you understand how to help them develop emotionally, psychologically, and otherwise.
In addition to these, you can actively search for top free childcare training courses that you can take to improve your knowledge about children’s development. Most of these courses are available online and they offer certificates. We will talk about 35 programs of this nature that you can check out for yourself.
Skills Needed to Work as a Childcare Provider
Not that it is statutory, but there are some skills or “virtues” that you might need if you must work with kids; here are some of them:
- Self-control and Patience with kids: Those tiny, beautiful creatures are notorious for being challenging to deal with sometimes. It is important that you learn how to be tolerant of all their misgivings. Correct them kindly when they are wrong and try to never go over the edge with them.
- Excellent communication skills: Effective communication enables families/caregivers and settings to share critical information about children and adolescents.
By communicating effectively, families/caregivers and caregivers will feel included in their children’s experiences at the setting, which aids in the development of positive relationships.
- Nutritional knowledge and hygiene. Some job descriptions of most childcare workers involve them having to play the role of dieticians to kids; or simply put, you have to feed them. Feeding children healthily is also crucial to their development.
As childcare providers, you can take up courses in nutritional education to learn facts about nutrition that improves growth, development, and well-being in kids. It is also quite important that you know how to promote the right standards of hygiene for these kids so that they can grow up with it.
- Compassion: Finally, you must have compassion for kids. You can not say that you don’t like kids, but want to become a childcare provider. That isn’t quite right, is it?
Benefits of Working as a Childcare Provider
Childcare training provides essential skills and knowledge to individuals looking to work in the childcare field. From learning how to manage a group of children effectively to understanding developmental milestones, free childcare training courses can give you the confidence to provide safe and quality care to those in your care.
Taking the time to become well-versed in the basics of childcare will not only give you an edge over other candidates in the job market, but it will also help you feel more comfortable and confident in your abilities as a caregiver.
It can help equip caregivers with the tools they need to create a positive and nurturing environment for children. Not only can they provide credible certifications and qualifications, but they can also teach important concepts and principles related to child development, safety, and other essential topics.
Similarly, childcare training courses with certificates ensure that those employed in the childcare field are well-equipped to provide safe and secure environments for children.
The comprehensive training provided helps to guarantee that caregivers are aware of the latest safety policies and measures, giving children the best possible care experience.
35 Free Online Childcare Training Courses With Certificates
There are so many MOOCs (massive open online courses) out there that provide certified courses related to childcare training and caregiving. In this section, we will group these 35 amazing courses that we have found into the platforms they belong under.
You may already know about some of these platforms now; as they are popular MOOCs platforms.
Below is a list of online platforms that provide these Childcare Training programs:
- Alison
- edX
- Coursera
- Care Courses
- Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
- Udemy
- OpenLearn
- FutureLearn
- New Skills Academy
- Class Central.
Overview of the Best 35 Free Online Childcare Training Courses With Certificates
Ready to discover the best 35 free online childcare training courses with certificates?
Now, let’s dive in without further ado.
The following are overviews of the MOOC platforms that we have listed for childcare training courses and the top courses in each.
Alison
Alison is a free online learning platform that offers various childcare courses.
Their childcare courses cover topics such as child development, early childhood education, child psychology, and more. Learners can study at their own pace and earn a certificate of completion after finishing the course.
However, the certificates being offered at this e-learning platform are not free. You will have to pay a little fee (about €10) to get certified.
Asides from childcare courses, Alison also offers top-quality programs and diplomas in other areas like Technology, Economics, Business, Nutritional Education, and many more.
Here’s our pick of the best childcare training courses with certificates on Alison:
- Childcare Basics: A Comprehensive Course on the Basics of Childcare
- Child Development: An Overview of the Stages of Child Development
- Child Psychology
- Introduction to Early Childhood Education
- Child Safety and First Aid
- Inclusive Early Childhood Education.
EdX
EdX is an online learning platform that offers a wide range of courses in various subjects, including childcare. The courses are designed to enhance the skills and knowledge of individuals who wish to work in the childcare industry.
While edX is not typically known as a MOOCs platform for childcare training courses, it still does fantastic in providing some top-tier programs that we are sure you will love to see.
Here are some of them:
- Early Childhood Development: Global Strategies for Implementation
- Positive Behaviour Support for Young Children
- Childcare Management
- Early Childhood Family Engagement
- Early Childhood Development for Sustainable Development.
Coursera
Like edX, Coursera is one of the most popular open-source learning platforms. Coursera is widely reputable for its computer science and technology-related courses. But did you know that they offer top childcare training courses?
Now, you do.
Here are our picks:
Care Courses
Care Courses offers various levels of CDA training courses for caregivers of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. The stand-out delivery pattern of Care Courses is the simplicity of its material and the fact that you can learn at your own pace without missing a blink.
Here are our top picks on Care Courses:
- Guidance and Discipline for Young Children
- Infant and Toddler Care
- Childcare Orientation Program
- School-Age Care
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is responsible for protecting children, adults with disabilities, and vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
It also provides services to help families achieve self-sufficiency and improve their well-being.
The DFPS oversees a variety of programs, including Child Protective Services, Adult Protective Services, Foster Care and Adoption Services, and Child Care Licensing.
Here’s a course on DFPS that we recommend highly:
- Career Growth and Development
- Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention
- Positive Discipline Techniques
- Nutrition and Meal Planning
Learn more about how to navigate courses on Texas DFPS.
Udemy
The following are the top childcare training courses on Udemy:
- Understanding Child Development
- The Power of Play and Its Impact on Early Childhood Learning
- Introduction to Early Childhood Montessori Education
- Sensory Explained Simply: Early Childhood Education
- Behavior Mastery
FutureLearn
FutureLearn is another online learning platform that provides free and paid courses from top universities and institutions around the world. The platform was launched in 2013 by the Open University in the UK and now has over 13 million registered learners.
Users can access a range of courses across subjects such as business, technology, health, humanities, and more. These courses are delivered through video lectures, readings, quizzes, and discussions with other learners.
However, FutureLearn also offers decent childcare training courses; these courses are curated in collaboration with Coursera, or as standalone FutureLearn courses. Whichever it is, they are sure to provide you with the right childcare training education that you need.
Here are our picks:
- Early Childhood Education and Care
- Preventing and Managing Infections in Childcare
- English in Early Childhood: Language Learning and Development
- First Aid for Babies and Children
- The Importance of Play Therapy
New Skills Academy
New Skills Academy is an online learning platform that offers certificate courses in various areas using a direct approach teaching method. These programs typically take as little as 6 hours to complete and are relatively affordable.
Some areas include Microsoft skills, baking, psychology, childcare training, and more.
They offer an accredited certificate course in childcare training that can be accessed when you pay £100. However, using the coupon code “GOALS79” at checkout offers you a massive 79% discount at checkout. This is valid at the time of this writing.
Here’s a link to the CFD-accredited course below:
Class Central
Class Central is an online search engine and review platform that helps students find and choose online courses. It provides information on a variety of courses from top universities and organizations worldwide, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), online degrees, and professional certificates.
Class Central also offers user reviews and ratings that help students better understand the quality of the courses before they enroll.
The idea is that you can use Class Central to find any course that you are looking for, and quickly too. It’s a great resource for those who are seeking to increase their knowledge and skills or to enhance their career opportunities through online learning.
- Understanding and Supporting Children With ADHD by OpenLearn
- Child Psychology by The Open University
- Child Psychology—Advanced Level class
- Child Care as a Business by State University of New York × Coursera
FAQs About Online Childcare Training Courses With Certificates
Are online childcare training courses accredited?
Not all online childcare training courses are accredited. However, some are accredited by appropriate education bodies. If this is an important aspect for you, then it is important that you check with these programs to find those that are accredited.
Do online childcare training courses offer certificates?
Yes, most online childcare training courses offer certificates upon completion of the program.
Are the certificates free?
Most childcare training courses offered online are usually free but, it comes with a catch: some of them may require you to pay to get certified.
These courses also provide criteria to ensure that you meet certification requirements before they let you pay. E.g., examinations, and other types of assessments.
Recommended Reads
- 15 Free Online Psychology Courses for Beginners
- Free Online Diploma Courses With Certificates
- List of the Best Free Online Universities
- Top 11 Online Colleges That Pay You to Attend Them.
Wrapping It Up
From the foregoing, you will discover that online childcare training courses provide an excellent opportunity for individuals who want to work in the childcare sector to gain the knowledge and skills they need. These courses are convenient, affordable, and accessible for people who are busy with work or family obligations.
Essentially, with the right online childcare training course, you can gain the skills you need to make a positive impact on the lives of children and families.