By Dongyun Kwon
Passion and excellence in early childhood education and care led a Healesville resident to the honour of winning an award.
Giselle Maassen from Foundations Family Day Care has been named as the Yarra Valley and High Country Educator winner in the 2024 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards.
Ms Maassen has over 13 years of experience working as an early childhood educator in a variety of settings including preschool, long day care, out-of-school hours care and family day care.
Ms Maassen said she received the same award twice in 2014 and 2015.
“I feel like it’s a real honour to win the award [once more],” she said.
“I was surprised because I’ve only been back to family day care since February and there are so many excellent educators out there.”
In its thirteenth year, the Excellence in Family Day Care Awards showcase the contribution that family day care educators make to more than 74,000 children across the country each day.
“This year more than 5000 nominations were placed, which is testament to the vital role that family day care educators play in the lives of families all across Australia and the unique benefits family day care offers,” Family Day Care Australia chief executive officer Andrew Paterson said.
Ms Maassen began her early childhood education career as an additional support educator at Gembrook Preschool.
The award recipient said after she worked at Gembrook Preschool, she went on to work as an educator in a long day care centre in Healesville before transitioning to family day care at home.
“I moved on from family day care to working as a co-educator at Haig Avenue Preschool for seven years because family day care wasn’t suitable for my family life as my own children grew older,” Ms Maassen said.
“While I was there, I also looked after a couple of families’ children after school in their own homes, and I was an after school care coordinator at Gruyere Primary School.
“Last year, I also got to teach STE[A]M one day a week at Badger Creek Primary School.”
In 2022, the Healesville resident completed her Bachelor of Early Childhood Education at La Trobe University receiving a commendation for academic excellence.
Ms Maassen dreamt of being a kindergarten teacher when she was in high school, however, it took her a while to fulfil her dream.
The early childhood educator said she eventually got back to her original dream because she wanted her work to be meaningful and contribute something tangible to society.
“After years of working various jobs, I did soul searching and asked myself what I wanted to do,” Ms Maassen said.
“I worked out that I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher, which is what I initially wanted to be when I was in high school.
“It was just a different route but it came full circle and I got there eventually.”
The early childhood educator’s first priority is to provide play based learning.
Ms Maassen has created an interesting environment with lots of sensory materials like sand and water along with providing unstructured play with a range of materials including loose parts, toys, puzzles and books for children to explore.
Ms Maassen said it’s really important to have play based learning because children learn best through play in the first eight years of their life.
“Child development in the first eight years is all learning through interactions and exploration, so through play, children learn language, social skills, how things work and how to regulate their emotions,” she said.
“I set up the environment to encourage peer to peer interactions and role play scenarios.
“I encourage children to problem solve among themselves before I step in the first instance.”
Mr Paterson spoke to Giselle’s achievement of being named a Regional Award Winner.
“The incredible work and dedication to creating a unique and nurturing early learning environment for children by educators like Giselle is why family day care is the natural choice in early childhood education and care for so many Australian families,” he said.
Four National Educator Finalists will be announced on 15 October 2024 with Family Day Care Australia’s Educator of the Year Winner being announced on 23 November at the Family Day Care Australia Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Gala Dinner in Parramatta.
