Kids injured and left unsupervised: Australia’s short-staffed childcare sector is under the spotlight

By ROBBIE MASON

Experts are demanding urgent intervention to halt the decline in quality of Australian childcare services following a damning ABC investigation into the sector.

As reported by the ABC, childcare centres across the country are increasingly jeopardising the safety of children due to inadequate supervision, chronic understaffing, poor working conditions and measly pay in the early childhood education sector.  Over 10 percent of childcare centres are failing to meet the national standard of care, as outlined by Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA).

Not only has the rate of injury among youngsters at childcare centres escalated, the number of breaches to national laws governing childcare is also rising. The latest available ACECQA data shows a 10 percent increase in confirmed breaches of national laws at childcare centres over the last 5 years.

Experts have concurred that that the public needs to recognise, and value more highly, the work of early childhood educators.

Dr Jodie Stribling from the University of South Australia said, “education of our youngest children is often still seen as ‘baby-sitting’ rather than education.”

“High quality programs need high quality educators, however, new and experienced educators are leaving the field. Educators are citing workload, burnout, wages and poor leadership as the main reasons for leaving the field. Many educators employed in the under five sector struggle with their professional identity, feeling under-appreciated and undervalued.”

Dr Stribling placed an emphasis on research which shows that 90 percent of brain development occurs before the age of five, proving that societal conceptions of education are skewed towards older children, teenagers and young adults.

Dr Jamie Sisson, Deputy Director of the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion (CRESI) at the University of South Australia, said, “attracting and retaining a high-quality workforce requires an investment in re-imagining initial teacher education and continuing professional development that recognises and supports the important intellectual work of early childhood teachers and their time with children.”

Rachael Hedger, a lecturer in early childhood education at Flinders University, stated, “any accident where a child is injured, or worse, in an early childhood setting is one incident too many. Families need to feel confident that they are always leaving their child in the best possible hands.”

The ABC published disturbing evidence yesterday of one infant who was attacked by another child while left unsupervised at a Brisbane daycare centre. The incident left the infant with black eyes and scratches across his body. Stories of children obtaining injuries at childcare centres has become a near-routine part of the news cycle in recent months.

Hedger continued, “teachers in birth-5 settings earn much less than their counterparts working in schools, and with less holiday entitlements. Until we address these workforce issues, we are not likely to see an improvement in the safety and quality of care that our youngest citizens both need and deserve.”

The United Workers Union is currently fighting for a 25 percent pay rise for early childcare educators.

Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens and spokesperson for Early Childhood Education and Care, Senator Mehreen Faruqi expressed solidarity with early childhood educators, telling City Hub, “the Greens have long called for better working conditions for educators, who are underpaid and overworked.”

“There is a staffing crisis across the sector and it can only be fixed with better pay and conditions for early childhood carers and educators. This is good for children, families and educators.

“We need public provision of early childhood education and care, so the well-being of children and educators can take precedence over profit margins,” she continued.