Q&A Karen Curtis CEO ACECQA - CareforKids.com.au®

Q&A - Karen Curtis - CEO ACECQA

Over the next few months CareforKids.com.au will be profiling some of the key organisations in Australian child care.

This month we feature a Q and A with Karen Curtis, Chief Executive Officer of the newly formed Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA)

Karen Curtis has broad experience in both the public and private sectors. She has worked for more than 20 years in the Commonwealth public sector holding a variety of senior roles, including six years as the Australian Privacy Commissioner.

Karen was also Executive Director of the Australian Made Campaign and for seven years had an industry policy and advocacy role for small business and regulation for the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

What are the primary objectives/goals of ACECQA within Australia's child care sector?
ACECQA's role is to provide national leadership in promoting quality and continuous improvement in early childhood education and care and school age care in Australia.
Our goal is to ensure new national standards are implemented successfully and consistently across Australia and that all Australian families have access to affordable, high quality education and care services.

How is ACECQA working to achieve those goals?
The success of the reforms depends heavily on the connections we build with the sector. We want to establish a culture of assistance and advice so we're working with State and Territory governments, service providers and families to ensure they have the information they need to understand the changes and what is expected under the new standards.

Our main priorities have been establishing key policies, such as qualification requirements for authorised officers and educators, assessment of equivalent qualifications and developing the criteria for the highest quality rating that a service can achieve – Excellent.

We're also meeting with as many people working in the sector as possible. We've been attending national conferences and forums, talking with peak bodies and meeting with service providers. We're taking the opportunity to participate in a national listening tour, visiting centres around the country to hear feedback from educators and families on the National Quality Framework.

Our other focus has been to make sure information and resources on the new framework are easily available. We're constantly updating information on our website, including a range of frequently asked questions, and publish a regular newsletter online. Each week we're answering around 500 enquiries through our national enquiry centre and we've published a number of guides, resources, templates and forms.

What are ACECQA's biggest challenges?
This is an exciting time to be working in the children's education and care sector and I'm really looking forward to the possibilities and opportunities ahead of us.

ACECQA opened its doors for business 1 January 2012 so we are facing the challenges that any newly established organisation encounters, from physically setting up our offices and making sure the phones work, to establishing governance arrangements for our Board and building relationships with our stakeholders.

Our biggest challenge, now and into the future, is to establish our credentials as an authority that works in partnership with the sector and governments to deliver nationally consistent, high quality outcomes for children.

The way to achieve this is through policy leadership and education. Providing education and raising awareness across the sector and the community is an important part of our role. We need to ensure governments and the sector are aware of the latest developments and that policy and practice in Australia is informed by the most current research.

What in your opinion are the biggest challenges facing the Australian child care sector now?
Raising awareness among families and the community about the important role of children's education and care is an important challenge and is something ACECQA will be focusing on. Our message to families and the broader community is that children's education and care is just that – education and care. It's not child minding, it's not babysitting – it's about early learning. And it's crucial for each child, and for our community, that we get it right.

I believe the new national reforms will also play an important role in helping to improve the sector's status. By setting national standards and educating people about what constitutes quality care, families and the broader community will see the true contribution of the sector to Australia's future.

How to attract and retain qualified staff, particularly in rural and remote areas, is another important issue. Providing the right mix of status, remuneration, job satisfaction and work/life balance is an on-going challenge for most sectors, particularly during times of significant reform.

While workforce planning is not one of ACECQA's functions we certainly recognise its importance and potential impact on quality improvements.

How can ACECQA help child care professionals do their jobs?
Providing leadership through the development of sound, consistent policies and making sure people have the information they need is one of the key ways ACECQA will be helping children's education and care professionals to do their job well.

ACECQA's role of educating the community on the value of quality education and care will also make it easier for these professionals to do their job by creating greater support, understanding and recognition of the important work they do.

Why has child care become such a hot topic in Australia over the last few years?
Growing participation rates have to be a factor in the increased general interest in child care. According to recent figures from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, one in four Australian children use some form of approved childcare. Combine this with the growing body of evidence that shows the skills and abilities acquired in early childhood are fundamental to a person's success and well-being in later life, and you start to get people's attention.

I think we're seeing greater general awareness of what everyone working in children's education and care services has known for a long time – how important it is to give every child the best possible start.

How is Australia's child care sector changing?
The implementation of the National Quality Framework at the beginning of the year marked the start of a new, national approach to quality improvement in early childhood and school age education and care services.

For the first time, all states (except Western Australia, where the legislation is currently before parliament) and territories are governed by the same legislation. New national standards will introduce improved educator to child ratios, new educator qualification requirements and a new quality rating system to give families clear information relating to the quality of children's education and care services.

How can child care professionals adapt to these changes?
Many of the changes are being phased in over a number of years. The aim here is to give educators and services time to become familiar with what is expected and to implement the changes. In my conversations with educators around the country it is clear there is a lot of support for the reforms. Part of ACECQA's role is to make sure educators feel supported in making them happen.

Keeping up to date with the latest developments is also really important so we're encouraging everyone to add our website to their favourites and to subscribe to our newsletter to help stay in touch.

Is there anything else you can add which would be helpful for our audience, of mostly child care professionals, to know?
For the first time we have the support of state and federal governments, and the community, to make real improvements to children's education and care services across Australia. ACECQA intends to do everything it can to make the most of this opportunity. The chance to make a difference to the lives of children and their families is too good to waste.

If you'd like to nominate a key child care organisation or someone you'd like to see profiled please drop us a line at editor@careforkids.com.au