Comments from people who work in education and care services

My other complaint is the paperwork family day educators have to do. We are only 1 person we don't get lunchbreaks or releaved like in centres to do this & find myself up till late in the night completing this & taking away from my family. Yes I chose this job but in all jobs there are work between hrs. Cut down some of the paperwork please that we as educators are doing.

Also why not separate Family Day Care from the regulations & give us our own to work by instead?

Please don't just consider issues relating to cost of early childhood education and care and how do we support parents get back into the workplace.? Think about the issues with the child's welfare at the forefront. Research has shown that the first 5 years of a child's life are so important in terms of brain development and social and emotional wellbeing. What occurs during these 5 years affects their whole lives. Having qualified staff with high child to staff ratios are so important. I have worked in the industry for 14 years and am a mother myself. I have seen wonderful services with high quality practices and services where I have felt shocked and saddened at how children are being treated. All children should be able to access high quality services. Without a doubt non profit community based services provide the highest quality. They are not concerned with making a profit. Many private services are focused on making a profit at the expense of children and staff. Please don't forget the staff either. We do a very difficult and demanding job for low pay. When I finished my early childhood degree my award wage was $25 an hour. I already had 12 years experience in industry. My son works at Subway and gets $15 an hour. The job is not just babysitting we are assessing children's development and are often the first ones to raise with parents concerns that their child may need intervention. This is a very difficult thing to do and requires as to be competent in understanding children's development and the wide ranges of what is typical and atypical development. We integrate children with special needs into our groups enabling this children to have the best chance of flourishing and provide support and friendship to these families. We need more government funding for services. You support schools and provide funding why not early childhood services. You pay school teachers wages in government schools why not fund teachers wages in early childhood services.

Submission feedback for Productivity Inquiry into Early Childhood Education To establish more flexible, affordable and accessible child care and early childhood learning the below are some points to consider: It is important to highlight the circumstances of not only the families but also the communities of which children belong to as part of the investigation of the productivity inquiry. Difficulty accessing suitable care and factors that influence use of ECEC and affordability The Fairfield area has a 9.7% rate of unemployment. This impacts upon the waiting list requirements and priorities within our waiting list policy. For families that are unemployed, they do not have the same priority of access as families who are working. Therefore children who are from these families are somewhat disadvantaged by not having access to high quality education and care due to their family’s socio-economic status. Make informed assessment of the Quality of different ECEC services With the introduction of the National registry, families are able to look into the results of a service. More campaigning needs to occur around this register, to ensure families understand this is a great opportunity for them to learn about services. At this stage it is widely promoted to the Early Childhood sector, but this affects families just as much. My child website which displays vacancies needs to be promoted also. So many positions within FCC services but unfortunately vacancies still exist. This could be due to a range of reasons including lack of services or getting from childcare to work if needing to catch public transport. High Quality education and care must continue along the path of the NQF in order to promote high quality educations and care, value and recognition for the Early childhood industry. Access/flexibility/cost/quality preventing families to work or study Looking at the SEIFA index for our local area in particular, Fairfield’s index is 854.0 on the SEIFA index of disadvantage compared to other areas such as Leichardt with a score of 1078.9. The higher the index the lower the disadvantage, the lower the index the higher the disadvantage. This proves that the area of Fairfield is indeed disadvantaged in the areas of low income, low education levels with high rates of unemployment. For low income earners the cost of childcare is substantial. Considering these low income earners may not receive the 50% rebate. Unfortunately some families who care for others do not have the ability to find a job and work so easily, in turn affecting their opportunities to access childcare such as priority of access. Support for families/Children with additional needs More funding for children with additional needs similar to that of FACSIA funding. Fee reduction for Pre schools is a common thing but more emphasis on fee reduction in long day care rather then increase each year would benefit families, especially in our local area. Access to Preschool comments More research and promotion needs to go into the preschool curriculum offered in Long Day Care services. Families often opt for Preschool because they feel the fees are lower and the program is more “structured” to prepare their children for school. This often affects utilisation in LDC and the children may not be provided with the same opportunities for holistic health in terms of nutritional meals being provided and rest periods throughout the day. It would be greatly valuable if Local Governments took an active role in lobbying State and Federal Governments for funding to promote the financial sustainability of the Early Childhood sector. In addition fee reduction for long day care similar to that of Preschools. Further comments Early Childhood teachers should be provided with the same working conditions as Primary school teachers in order to retain highly skilled and professional educators within the sector. AEDI poor results should then be the basis of funding to empower families not only the service. Most importantly in Fairfield, where families have low educational backgrounds. It is important to note that AEDI results show children are not yet ready for school but families choose the cheaper option of formal schooling due to their financial status. References http://profile.id.com.au/fairfield/employment-status http://profile.id.com.au/fairfield/seifa-disadvantage?es=1

Points: Why does NSW Regulations not fall in-line with other states ie - ECT Ratios. Fees can be reduces by; Exempting centres from; Payroll Tax, Land Rates, Reducing the number of ECT's. Childcare Centres/Pre-School should be owned and operated by Teachers not accountants, solicitors, etc. ACEQA stop charging centres for Wavers and other associated costs. Childcare Fees are high due to All Governments Gouging the early childhood sector.

As a coordinator of over 20 years and Tafe teacher for 10 I have seem much change across the early childhood sector, most of it good. Seeing educators with cert III qualification and seeing how this has influenced their practice and understanding of individual children is rewarding for the child, family educator and the community. Our future citizens. My greatest concern is the lack of monitoring and support visits required under legislation to Family Day Care educator homes. By nature of the job educators spend many hours alone with children and without another adult to share ideas, reflect on practice, problem solve and be recharged. At times on site support is required when working closely with a diverse range of families. From a compliance perspective and a safety perspective an annual visit by a service provider to an educators home allows for many potential (I would say- unacceptably high risk) activities to occur over a long period time unnoticed and unchecked. I would not like to look back in 20 years and see a royal commission into systemic child abuse that was allowed to fester and grow and go unchecked because of a lack of compliance and support monitoring allowed by legislation and implemented by services as they find innovative ways to cut administration cost. There is a growing gap throughout the family day care sector in service delivery. Families are largely unaware that the security and safety and trust they have placed in family day as a whole sector should now come with caution and questioning. The national logo is no longer a sign of security in the sector. It is a case of buyer beware!

There is no evidence to support 2 recent NQF changes that have both reduced places and increased the cost of childcare, viz: Mandating the employment of university ECT graduates over TAFE Diplomas (refer to 2013 University of Melbourne research that show no difference in outcome for children) and reducing the number of children 3-5 from 1:15 to 1:11 (refer to the same Melbourne University report and any number of reports that prove reducing class sizes has done nothing of value of educational outcomes anywhere in the world. The ‘failing’ of centres by giving them ‘Working Towards’ because they failed a small part of one of 58 parts of an assessment is both demeaning, demoralising to staff and incomprehensible to parents. To take more than 1000 days since the last assessment by NCAC officers and then to take 6.6 years to make a return visit under NQF is an absurdity, to say nothing of the cost in staff time and concern. This is a form of bureaucratic madness. Improving the quality of outcomes for children can and should be done by having experts attend to teach and encourage centre staff, not give them a ‘fail’ mark when they are near perfect in every relevant sense.

As a childcare provider I would to comment on funding to long day care services with recent changes of regulations and with changes to pay awards made by the prior government fees had to rise this is the consequence of no increase from government subsidies . As we provide a service in a small country town incomes are low and therefore cannot pass on fee rises like larger towns and cities. the NSW government has recently changed its funding model to preschools to give more funding to parents in rural remote areas making them more affordable, this is a area that the federal government should look at especially if they want parents to work and if childcare centres are to survive As a childcare worker I would like to comment on childcare qualifications I have worked in excess of 18 years in a long day care service showing a strong commitment to the industry I feel with all my knowledge attained over these years is worthy and should be rewarded by exempting workers such as my self from having to gain a certificate 3 qualification as I am under the instruction of a qualified supervisor , given what I have seen over these years experience far outways a piece of paper with little or no experience. As a service provider for the past 18 years I would like to voice my thoughts regarding the future for childcare, as we are aware childcare fees have risen significantly as a direct result of the previous governments regulation changes such as wages for more qualified staff and staff training and more redtape regarding accountability approximately 500 pages, when these new regulations were implemented funding was not increased so as a direct result we are now seeing the impact on childcare affordability significantly so in rural and regional services , this will surely test these services viability in the near future if changes are not made to the current model witch we now have to operate under.

I have worked in a rural , remote and isolated community in a pre school for 16 years. I also work in the local high school, with children at risk and with learning difficulties. In my experience I have observed the power of positive partnerships with families and children being at the center of a successful journey through the education system. I follow the Reggio Emilia approach , that is personalised and builds on achievement in discovering the individual talents in each child. Putting children in an environment where they want to learn and can discover their true passion. This approach has been proven hugely successful to me and ongoing through to high school leavers. I have spent many years sitting in classrooms with children assisting them with their literacy and numeracy and have realised that the education systems we are now using is detrimental to a large percentage of students. Children are disengaged, behaviours are becoming more difficult for teachers to manage. I see how difficult it is for students to sit all day in classrooms, trying to focus on learning . Mentoring in school systems has been a positive experience for me , i have facilitated two mentoring programs with teenage girls at risk , these programs have created positive relations between the parents , students , mentor and the school. The students feedback has been touching as one student on suicide watch told me that it changed her life. These students respond immediately to this type of program and mentors can model and support positive behavior and attitudes to these children that are in desperate need of an adult in their life that is safe , supportive and invests in them

Make early childhood education affordable for ALL families. Pay Educators properly

I have been a kindergarten teacher for 35 years. I appreciate many of the changes and innovations that have been introduced over the last few years, especially the EYLF / VEYLDF and NQF. These changes serve to raise the standards of the Early Childhood Sector, and assist in the delivery of a more equitable system nation-wide. I also appreciate the significant increase in support services since I began teaching, services such as Early Intervention. However, I cannot survive with the phenomenal work load that the current regulations and standards create. I have to cut corners somewhere or I will have to resign. I am employed 23 hours a week, and OFTEN work longer hours than my husband, who is a campus principal in the state education system, and is employed full time. Most weeks I do a minimum of ten hours unpaid overtime, and many weeks I do twenty or more hours unpaid in addition to my paid hours. The children should come first, not the paperwork, and the educators should be considered and recompensed for the overwhelming increase to workload. I am both Educational Leader and Nominated Supervisor at my centre and teach one preschool group, but am not employed for any more hours or paid any more than a teacher who teaches one group and does not fill either of those roles. Early Childhood educators have an incredible amount of responsibility and accountability, but no recognition for it. The only reason that Early Childhood Education hasn't ceased to exist in Australia is because dedicated, committed teachers and co-educators like me keep putting in hours and hours of our own time to complete required tasks, and dollars and dollars of our own money for equipment and resources. The Government needs to wake up and value what we do and how hard we work while we are doing it.

We are a small rural and remote town in the Midwest of WA. We have been battling for quite some time now to attract a suitably qualified person to be the Supervisor of our Long Day Care Centre. We have had 2 interested people, but when it comes to the permanency of signing a, employment contract they seem to get cold feet. Our community needs a Day Care Centre, We are a farming community, and due to the downturn in the agricultural sector, many mothers are returning to the workforce to make ends meet. There needs to be a financial incentive for small rural towns to not only be able to entice qualified people to our town to deliver these types of services which will in turn allow us to be able to deliver Child Care at a cost effective rate for the families. Living in the bush need not always mean that we go without, we should be able to within reason of course, have access to services that our city cousins take for granted. rural towns are shrinking, and this is not helped by the relocation of mothers and children to larger regional areas for either employment or education. We need to keep our mums and kids in our towns, as without them other things start to slide away, ie sport and other social activities

my family ran a chain of centres on the sunshine coast for 15years. All childcare centres should have an appointed 'smart person' . This specifically approved person could have a ' looser' constriction on what they talk to the children about. Expose them to concepts/ laws and information that are currently restricted to talk about by staff. This person could discipline children in way that is currently restricted. also teach e- safety. Also teach respect for the politicians and political process. Political respect is at an all time low especially 'x and y genners' so i think this is important.

I have worked in the childcare industry since 1989 and have seen many changes’ have worked in Long day care, Occasional Care and now work in Family Day Care as a Manager. I am disappointed that the NCAC was scrapped totally as the process of assessing services was working and it raised the standard considerably and we had an easy to understand level to achieve and we were assessed on a regular basis. The new NQF and NQS has standardized childcare regulations throughout Australia which is good but the regulations are difficult to understand and the regulation authority are not able to cope with the number of services they need to assess. In Family Day Care the new regulations have allowed private individuals to start up services without being assessed. This is lowering the standard of FDC in the eyes of the parents and will effect the overall view of what family day care can provide. These are often a one person business and can not offer the educators the support they need and require. The new regulations have asked for all childcare workers to have qualifications and this has meant that we are not attracting new Educators. It would be better to encourage new staff to work in the industry for a short time at a lower level and then they would have better commitment to study and staying in the industry. Centrelink need to let parents know what benefits they are entitled to. Many parents are unaware of what they can receive from the government. The JET payment needs to have provisional approval prior to the child starting in childcare. Parents are signing up for a childcare place and are then unable to afford to pay their account as the JET is not approved. Overall, the new standards appear to be a good idea but in practice appear to not be working which is a disappointment to the industry. I hope this helps in any future decision making in the Early Childhood Sector.

I have concerns around the inequity between the set hours Universal Access imposes on preschools (6OO HOURS). Is there prescribed hours for schools? Given they have days when children are not in attendance e.g. set up days, professional development days , curriculum days, report writing days, etc. How do they make up the days for their students. Why are kindergartens not given the same respect. Kindergarten Inclusion Support funding. Stop making teachers write deficit model applications. Do you not get how difficult it already is for the parents of children with additional needs. Our Framework is strength based. Make KIS funding user friendly and focus on the needs of the children and families who desperately need government funding and support for the staff who value the needs of all children and require support to provide Best Practice in their services.

As an Early Childhood Teacher for over 20 years I was so excited when Early Childhood was recognise, acknowledged and carefully considered by the Rudd government. Why?.... It provided a national framework that gave Early childhood education a common national language to discuss and plan for educational outcomes. It recognised the contribution that ECE ( Early Childhood education ) made to overall education outcomes and extended the hours of Preschool for this purpose. It recognised that smaller groups improved educational outcomes and consequently changed the child staff ratios. It provided national regulations across the country and across all services. It ensured that all services were meeting standards go quality and implemented a comprehensive assessment process. It recognised that to meet high quality outcomes staff needed to have training and appropriate qualifications. It provided forums through the professional learning program for conversations about education and additionally resources to support the framework. All of the above have been achieved through the National Quality Standards. This progress is too important to reform and wind back for the sake of government cost savings.

I am managing an In Home Care Service that operates in conjunction with a Family Day Care Service; the Licensee is our Local Shire Council. Here are my thoughts and suggestions for improvement. All children including rural and remote children should have access to affordable and quality care and education. Qualified Educators should be valued and acknowledged as early childhood educators. Remuneration should reflect their qualifications; experience and quality care service provided. Could remuneration be linked to NQS assessment result of service or educator? CCB and CCR payments are very complicated for families to understand. One single benefit may be an easier option. DEEWR could provide more monitoring and support to services especially those that are not meeting National Quality Standards, Regulations and/or their obligations under the Family Assistance Law. We have encountered services that are not meeting basic regulatory requirements and are working with dubious practices. DEEWR needs to have a better system to identify fraudulent practices.