Childcare in Crisis

| December 2, 2008
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Submissions are now open for the Senate Inquiry into the Provision of Childcare in Australia (until Friday, 30 January 2009).

To coincide with this, our featured forum of the month for January is "Childcare in Crisis".

In contemporary Australia, is childcare a choice or an essential service? What level of qualifications should we expect from childcare workers? Is it possible to provide top quality childcare within the commercial model? How did YOU decide where to send your kids? Has your childcare situation been directly affected and how have you managed? Are you a childcare professional or a childcare volunteer? We'd love to hear from you, whether you work in family daycare, community based childcare, or a for-profit centre, or simply look after your own grandchildren at home.

There's only a short window of time to get submissions into the Senate Inquiry – so do it today.

Open Forum will compile all your contributions and submit them to the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committee.
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Submissions are now open for the Senate Inquiry into the Provision of Childcare in Australia (until Friday, 30 January 2009).

To coincide with this, our featured forum of the month for January 2009 is "Childcare in Crisis".

childcare logo

It sounds dramatic, but is there really any other word for it? On December 11 2008 UNICEF released "The Childcare Transition: A League Table on Early Childhood Education and Care in Advanced Countries", in which Australia ranked twenty third out of 25 countries, meeting only 2 of the 10 benchmarks set.

Following the collapse of CFK and ABC Learning Centers in November, it seems clear the corporate model of childcare provision is deeply flawed.

Participating in the Senate Inquiry into the Provision of Childcare in Australia is your chance to directly influence the future childcare policy. 

Open Forum is happy to be able to provide a non-partisan space for its readers to discuss the childcare crisis and share their ideas about how we should be moving forward. We will then present your ideas as a submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Provision of Childcare in Australia.

Open Forum makes it easy for you to have a say:

  • Leave a comment in the section directly below
  • Read one of the related blogs listed below as part of this forum and leave a comment
  • Feel strongly? Write your own blog!
  1. Is consumer choice in the private childcare sector real? Are parents making decisions being based on ideological considerations, or is it simply a matter of finding a centre reasonably close to home which has a space available?
  2. How did you decide where to send your kids?
  3. What level of qualifications should we expect from childcare workers?
  4. In contemporary Australia is childcare a choice or an essential service?   
  5. Is it possible to provide top quality childcare within the commercial model? Or are not-for-profits the only way to go?  
  6. Are you a childcare professional? We'd love to hear from you, whether you work in family daycare, community based childcare, or a for-profit centre.
  7. In the past few months there have been many instances of Grandma and Grandpa coming to the rescue. Are you a childcare volunteer? We'd love to hear from you.
  8. Has your childcare situation been directly affected? How have you managed?

There's only a short window of time to get submissions in to the Senate Inquiry – so do it today. It's as easy as leaving a comment below.

Open Forum will compile all your contributions and submit them to the Senate Inquiry into the Provision of Childcare in Australia.

For more information or any questions about participating with Open Forum, please email srose@openforum.com.au

'Childcare in Crisis' Topic of the Month is supported by Global Access Partners (GAP), www.globalaccesspartners.org

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0 Comments

  1. alison gordon

    January 12, 2009 at 4:42 am

    found this link today

    http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24899680-5006009,00.html

    • Suze

      June 20, 2009 at 3:45 am

      1. No. Consumer choice is

      1. No. Consumer choice is not real. There was no point even putting my childs name on a council run/owned childcare list because my child was just never going to get a place. Is the system corrupt? I beleive it must be because it doesn't make any sense. You shouldn't have to keep putting your child's name on some mysterious list every 6mnths. It should be put on the list once and that's it. You should get a code of some sort and the list be available public so you can monitor where your child is on that list via your code. Also when visiting the ideal childcare i was told by staff there would be places available and they sold me on how greatly my child would fit in but then i fill out the general waiting list forms and i never hear from anyone. There's no transparency. You talk to one person and they never give you information. Why not just tell you that your child has NO chance of getting a place. I luckily got him into a different childcare centre but it is no way my ideal choice. My child was on/off/on a list for nearly 3 yrs never being offerred a place.

      2. I chose the childcare centre because it was the only place that offered my child a spot.

      3. A very high level of qualification that is experience based more than acedemic should be required. At least on going training and support for child care staff BUT i also think they deserve a much higher pay rate. Caring for children is VERY demanding and high stress. It is demeaning to all women (and any carer) that such a job should be so under valued in society both adcedemicly and monetarily. It should be considered as a highly skilled position because caring for children is one of the most difficult things anyone can do.

      4. Oh childcare is absolutly an ESSENTIAL service. If the government "expects" social inclusion by all mothers (including single mothers and those receiving parenting payments etc) then it needs to think about who is going to look after the children. Society is very different nowadays. Grandparents aren't helping like they could many years ago because they are working for longer and you can't depend on friends or neighbours to care for children because EVERYONE is too busy working themselves. Most families rely on 2 incomes and there is a growing number of sole parents who need that support. Also more importantly is the importance of childcare as respite for struggling undersupported and over stressed parents especially those disadvantaged and socially isolated. Childcare for many children is what can be fundamental in preventing child abuse and neglect. I actually beleive childcare should even be free for many of the poorest families who fit this category. For me childcare is a life saver as i have absolutly NO social support. My mother died nearly 20 years ago and my childs father and his familiy has caused me continual conflict and emotional abuse. I also am prone to depression and as a single mother child care is very literally the only real time i have to get everything else done and for a time out and to self care. Also my child has speech delays and anxiety issues so the socialisation has been imperative for him. I also beleive there should be evening child care options and weekend childcare options because many courses and work opportunities are outside of 9-5. For many sole parents its difficult to get any care for weekend work and evenings. If there was such a thing then there would have to be a database and a legislative limit (or cap) to how many hours a child should be in care during a whole week. I actually do beleive there are children being dumped in childcare from 8am-6pm 5 days a week. This is a ridiculous amount of institutionalising for young children who need personal bonding time with parents which is fundamental to their development. There really should be more research and recommendations and indeed limits. I beleive a parent placing a child in care for this amount of time especially very young children are borderline neglecting their parental duties and prioritiseing other.

      5. I think once you consider caring for children as a means of profiteering then you are losing sight of the importance of child care. I do not beleive the geral public can get quality childcare unless they are paying through the roof for it or it is an exclusive and elite private system where the parents can afford the costs and the childcare facility has a higher cost to cater for its quality. The private sector could be beneficial with different cultural and ideal type childcare centres.

      6. I am NOT a chilcare proffessional.

      7. No one has come to the rescue. Very lucky if people have grandparents for support because there are many like myself who have none. Childcare has been the rescue.

      8. Definately i have had to overlook many instances where there has been lack of vigilence by staff and outright lack of supervision. There have been a few incidents that would make any caring parent want to remove their child from that childcare facility but because there are NO other choices and I really depend on that respite i have had to keep my child at that facility. My other issue is also some of the staff have been incredibly judgemental to me as a parent. Just plain rude. Where i go theres a couple of staff members that ignore me because i'm poor while being extra nice to the "proffessional" parents. There's a lot of snobbery. Even some parents will, purposely turn their heads the other way to avoid greeting or acknowledging my existance. There should be a code of conduct in the way children are treated but also how parents are treated and of course how childcare staff are treated. All children and parents should be treated with dignity regardless of their status in society. Also there are children with very obvious behaviour problems which have affected my child's enjoyment of the place. These kids, though wonderful children do take up more attention from staff. I have never really felt welcomed there as a parent and in the beginning i think childcare was not ideal for my child and i don't think there is ever enough staff to handle children with attachment issues. My child is happy there now but still gets bullied by other kids. Staff aren't aloud to tell children that they are being naughty. I think there needs to be more support and strategies for staff to effectively direct children out of bad behaviour (of course not shouting or abuse). I don't want to sound like the place is a nightmare because there are amazing staff there that have cared for my child and been very supportive of my childs needs and i do accept that incidents will happen when facilities are understaffed, under qualified and without government assistance. More government funds could put less pressure on some childcare facilities who rely on parent volunteering and support and instead enable them to employ more staff. Also a more flexible time arrangement at childcare centers whose parents may want to drop their children off mid day or pick them up mid day. And MORE childcare facilities especially inner city. There needs to be more outside space available for inner city children because many don't have yards.

  2. rosellam

    January 16, 2009 at 6:04 pm

    Now is the time for child care investment
     

    Some related thoughts from Canada:  

    As governments put together economic stimulus plans, bailout packages for "the Big 3,"  don't mean "home, school and daycare", as New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women Chariperson Elsie Hambrook wrote recently. Yet, investing in caring is vital to long-term economic health just like roads, airports and energy-retrofitted buildings, as American economist Randy Albelda said recently. When we need to spend to get out of a recession, we don't seem to think of investing in social infrastructure – the very target for cuts in tough economic times.

    "Now could be a good time to invest in people, from early childhood development on up," wrote Elsie Hambrook.  Evelyn Murphy, author, economist and former Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, says kick-starting the economy by funding roads and bridges worked in the 1930s when the workforce had a lot of manual labourers and the countries needed physical infrastructure, but today's is knowledge.economy and investing in pay equity and student loan programs would make sense.

    • pallavi

      December 18, 2009 at 1:32 pm

      Charity through shopping

      Great post dear. .even i also think that its time for investing for childcare.Every individual should participate in helping needy childs.I also work for charity and help orphan kids through my online shopping as portion of sale goes to charity when i do shopping through auscause,its australia’s largest online chrity store.Well anyhow or in any way we all should step forward to help childs who need our kind help.

  3. amanda.buggy

    January 22, 2009 at 10:30 am

    Take a Chapter out of Sweden’s Book

    There has been research in this area by many European countries, and lots of reports written.

    I believe we need to take a good hard look at what Sweden is doing, because they seem to have it right!

    The main points are:

    – Public child-care of high quality combining education and care

    – Accessible for all children

    – Provided by the municipalities

    – Financed mainly out of public funds

    Yes, this would mean that we end up with a public child care system run by the government, but I'm sure we would still end up with private child care, just as we currently have private schools.

    For more information check out:

    http://www.cprn.org/doc.cfm?doc=442&l=en

    http://www.daycaretrust.org.uk/mod/fileman/files/Barbara_Martin_Korpi_final.pdf

    http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001301/130135e.pdf

    http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/48/17/2479039.pdf

    http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/2/22/1917636.pdf

    http://www.estia.educ.goteborg.se/

  4. soality

    January 24, 2009 at 2:32 am

    Childcare – Mr Rudd will stuff up this

    The major problem with childcare in Australia at present is that there are about 5 times too many chldcare centres.  For a centre to operate the must be 95% full, however 99% of centres are only 30% full, which means many are close to being insolvent, resulting in shortcuts being made.  With Mr rudd shoring up the ABC system, he has made sure the other struggling centres close-by will fail, thus leaving only ABC.  Maybe this is really the agenda, where the govt can control ABC and there are no other private centres surviving.

    With other planned initives such as babies ratios to be 1:4 and only having Universitiy trained teachers,, the cost of childcare is going to blow out out of proportions and be out of reachof most Australians.

     The industry in Australia is well run.  There are a few operators that shouldn't be there, however generally the sector is well run providing good outcomes for parents and children.

     My centres run programs that are parent directed.  This works extremly well.  the children learn social, emotional and educational skills both in fine and gross motor areas.  They end up being well balanced menbers of society. 

     Mr Rudd needs to keep his fingers out of an area he knows nothing about and needs to listen to small operators, not University Lecturers who have never worked in the industry.  For more information pls contact me on 02 8084 1515 or visit my web site on http://www.jillys.com.au

  5. soality

    January 28, 2009 at 8:30 am

    Childcare in transition – report card 8

    Typical report, written by academics, with little or no experience in actual childcare centres and who to gain their qualifications, had their children put in childcare, with resulting guilt.  This report identifies that governments need to put a great deal more money and investment into formal childcare. 

    The press mistakenly reported that Australian childcare centres were the ones failing, wheras it really points to lack of government funding and initiatives.  Even the report was flawed in its findings, eg the max ratio in Australia for 3-5 yr is 1:10, the report thinks this > 1:15 which is incorrect, and hence we would have met this benchmark.  Another is in staff training.  I couled point out many flaws in the report.  It is very misleading with most information appearing to be guessed, not researched.

    What doesn't make sence with the report is that it implies that childcare workers are incapable of providing care similar to a mother.  I don't know of any mothers who know the sign language a non-speaking child performs, such as full fist in the mouth indicating hunger.  Childcare workers however do know this.

    I'm quite positive that the academics are missing the vital milestones of child development as they are usually too focused to see the wood from the trees.  In my centres, see http://www.jillys.com.au the trained are young (mid 20's) and the assistants, middle aged.  This gives a nice balance between training and nuturing.

    Childcare in Australia is in crisis, with too many centres around, with the majority being 1/2 full or less.  This means that the majority of centres are struggling to survive.  With ABC being propped up by the Fed Govt, this now ensures that those centres  that are just surviving will now possibly fail, leaving a 'Govt' run ABC system to be the only survivor.

     The report does have a few areas where I agree.  Many of the children who have passed through my centres have ended up being DUX of the school, popular, respected and well balanced teens. 

    I disagree however with the various comments for the under 1 year old child.  Again, in my centres these children receive constant attention and do receive the emotional support that children of this age require.

     The govt needs to get the acadamics back into their establishments and leave the childcare industry alone.  ABC didin't go broke because of substandard childcare, they got caught up in the world financial crisis.  The govt also needs to get the small operators to assist in advice, again not the academics or the large operators, as both groups are far to distant from the child.  The small operators are usually very close to all the children, being able to supply their emotional and security requirements.

     The best childcare centres however I believe are those managed by a private oprator, who can devote time to developing their centres programs, inconjunction with the parents.

    I have found the best trained are those who have completed the Dip in Chns services, not the ECT.

    The report is misleading in its benchmarking.  These should not be set at the level of out fellow counties.  We should set  our own, if needbe and then stick to them.

  6. Charis Denile M. Abella

    March 5, 2009 at 12:36 pm

    Childcare workers
    I think we should really set a high qualification for childcare workers because they are the one who will take care of our children.  In some cases, chiildcare workers are more attatch to the child than the parents.  We should be careful in choosing because they will teach our children different things and also children can imitate them. They should also be a good role model to our children.

  7. Twister

    March 28, 2009 at 1:07 am

    too much education and standards turns our children into robots.

    while everybody is too worried about the qualification of a childcare worker and the government is working towards educating the childcare workers,  what most people neglect to see is too much education could also cause problems and turn childcare workers into textbooks rather than someone who not only looks after our children but cares for them as well, and as a result turn our children into robots. Too many systematic methods in all those learning, real love is taken away and replaced with methods that doesn't suit all children, every child is an individual and cannot be treated identical to another.

    I have looked at the educational materials in certificate III childcare and most of what it covers actually makes me feel uncomfortable and most of it would be what I won't follow, but if I need to do the course I need to abide by it and the lecturer/trainer has no choice but teach according to the outlines. I actually did the course but withdrew from it 3 quarter  of the way, too many non sense and silly expectations. These types of educations and training that are taught to use on our children, our future, doesn’t teach our children love and or individuality,  it’s programming our children. I heard from a child care worker, when she was placed into a childcare centre to do her training she was told not to have any child to sit on her lap, because that is a form of favouritism, how absurd, children need to have that, life in their age is NOT  just learning painting, and other skills such as motor skills and so on they usually develop under normal circumstances anyway,  they need to be cared for in all levels.

    I decided to do childcare, family daycare, I treat all the children as my children and I care for them as if they are at their own home, at their age they need to feel at home, true I also use order and routine  but that is necessary to minimise chaos and maximise time with all the children. Children at all childcare centres need to feel at home,  education is important but not in a form of programming but simple and to suit all individuals. A parent that recently brought her child to me is absolutely happy and feels more comfortable because her little child used to be sad going to a centre but when she comes to me she is actually looking forward to her stay, why? Because I let her be a 2 year old at home where she needs to be,  and not a centre with too many rules and little contact or affection. The other issue in family daycare is; people working as carers aren’t treated well in many counciles, nearly all of them are underpaid and have no sick leave or holiday pay, they are pushed around by council and are too afraid to stand up for what they see council is doing wrong,  because council is their agent providing them with children.  Daycare centres charge more for children have more than one staff and can have large number of children to carers which is far more profitable for the centre, a family daycare worker on the other hand gets less pay has little interaction with other adults and has to do all the job on their own, from cleaning to book keeping and all. 

    Child care centres are mostly full, so I don’t understand why some people believe they are not.  A grandmother with little childcare education can provide more comfort and education than a programmed childcare worker. Let our children be comfortable and children not robots. Educate the carers but not in a business manner, don’t turn childcare workers into text books and stop making robots out of the children.  Comfort and saftey need to come first and the rest should be gentle loving learning in a homely enviornment.   

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