Q&A with Gwynn Bridge – President of the Australian Childcare Alliance and CEO of Childcare QLD

Q&A - Gwynn Bridge
President of the Australian Childcare Alliance and CEO of Childcare QLD

As a part of our monthly newsletter for child care providers we are running a series of profiles designed to further educate our readers about Australia's most important government departments, community and industry organisations and how they work to support the child care industry, and also to put a face to the names of these organisations.

This month we feature a Q&A with Gwynn Bridge – President of the Australian Childcare Alliance and CEO of Childcare QLD.

What is your professional background and what does your current role entail?
For the past 20 years of 25 years as a licensee in the sector, I have been an active member of state and national long day care association committees. Three years ago while remaining as a committee member I was also appointed as CEO of Childcare Queensland. I currently am also President of the national association, the Australian Childcare Alliance.

The National Bank of Australia was my first point of entry into the workforce and BC (Before Child care) I also worked in an Accountancy firm and for a national building company – balancing figures. Twenty-five years ago I became exhausted from worrying about other people's finances and my husband suggested that I find something that would be more personally rewarding. My desire to ensure the wellbeing of children was my driving force. We purchased our first child care centre and although regulations were very scant in Queensland I was very thankful that we had Diploma qualified educators.

I cried for the first 12 months. Being totally responsible for children's lives and wellbeing, meeting staff wages, learning a completely new operation and exhausted by the work load of being in private enterprise was overwhelming. Interest rates were at 17 per cent and the pressure was immense. We had a sticker on our refrigerator, "Tough times don't last, tough people do." It is still my motto to this day.

I embraced my new career and in subsequent years I gained my early childhood qualifications. Whilst operating four child care services, I also dedicated nine years as Treasurer to the Gold Coast Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and woman's refuge groups.

In my role as CEO of Childcare Queensland, my past working life has certainly given me the skills, motivation, and strength to commit to the Association and its members as an advocate for children, families, educators and our service operators. I am very fortunate to have flexibility in my role to deal with office administration, implementing new initiatives and maintaining the current activities of the association in conjunction with other committee members. My main role is advocacy and member support, and in this role I meet with state and federal governments on a regular basis, which includes involvement in many forums and working groups to ensure that our membership's concerns and desires are negotiated at a strategic level.

What are the primary objectives/goals of Childcare Queensland within Australia's child care sector?
Through Childcare Queensland's strategic plan, our intention is to support service operators and their educators by providing them with current, sound information and support to enable them to build their own capacity in their own communities, ensuring that children and their families are provided with an education and care environment where they belong and feel safe and nurtured and can confidently support children's development and learning.

Advocacy by Childcare Queensland with all levels of governments to ensure a sustainable early learning and care sector is a primary objective.

How are you working to achieve those goals?
Childcare Queensland is a progressive and expanding organisation and we are on the cusp of providing stronger and more directed support to the sector. We believe that training and networking opportunities for our members and their educators must be targeted, recognising the various levels of learning and knowledge of all stakeholders. A "one size fits all" system of support and training has been helpful, however for our members and educators, we must now ensure that their individual concerns and challenges can be supported to enable them to work towards continual improvement.

What are your biggest challenges now?
We believe that our biggest challenge at the current time is to assist our members and educators with the implementation of the National Regulations. As we introduce these regulations, we are discovering some unintended consequences that are making it extremely difficult for services to operate within the law.

A major concern is the Supervisor Certificate with some services, particularly smaller services with fewer qualified educators to draw upon, finding it difficult when their educators are sick or on leave. The application documentation and time for approval of a certificate are inhibitors to the smooth and legal operation of services. It will take time for all stakeholders to gain sound understanding of the legal requirements of the regulations and to ensure that these requirements are embedded with each service operation.

What do you anticipate those challenges will be in the future?
Meeting legislative requirements for staffing by January 1, 2014 will be the greatest challenge we have ever faced. With a little over one year to implementation, the sector remains unable to fill current positions of staffing. The requirement to have one university qualified early childhood teacher in each service by 1/1/14 at this time, appears to be impossible. Childcare Queensland does not support the "waiver" process as we believe that this will undermine the intention of the regulations.

What in your opinion are the biggest challenges facing the Australian child care sector now?
The biggest challenge we are facing on a daily basis is lack of time and the changes we are implementing. From all sectors we are hearing that there are not enough hours in the day to effectively implement the changes, given that we received the final draft of the National regulations in late 2011 to be implemented by 1/1/2012.

The amount of reading, understanding and implementation is all consuming and, as we are all aware, children are the priority in our day and time cannot be taken away from our normal duties. Approved Providers and some Directors are working extended hours to ensure that paperwork is reviewed and changed to reflect the new regulations. Additional documents must be created and educators and families totally informed of the changes and responsibilities incorporated. Childcare Queensland believes that the implementation period has been too short and intense and has brought with it pressure on all stakeholders.

How can Childcare Queensland help child care professionals do their jobs?
Childcare Queensland dedicated their "Hands up for the Future" conference in September this year to providing a range of sector experts to address and workshop with educators and providers.

We provide regular and ongoing support through training opportunities, meetings, direct email assistance and telephone support.

Why has child care become such a hot topic in Australia over the last few years?
Research has proven that the early years are the most significant in a child's life. Getting it right for children by providing quality education and care will ensure that they are given the opportunities and tools to become well prepared for their future. Above all, children must feel supported, safe and happy. Increasing female workforce participation has been a key driver in ensuring that the needs of children and their families are met. Affordability and accessibility have become an increasing public interest in recent years as families are struggling under economic pressures to maintain a balance between work and family.

How is Australia's child care sector changing?
The sector has changed constantly during the past 25 years. There has always been early learning combined with care provided at a service level, but very dependent upon the individual management of the service and the educators. I have seen many new initiatives and policy decisions introduced with good intentions for improvement. Many of these have resulted in positive outcomes for the delivery of early learning and care for children in their early years. Some have been far less positive.

My belief is that we must be proactive to ensure that with any changes there is a balance of equity and accessibility to all stakeholders. Governments and the sector must develop policies that are sustainable and that outcomes for children are not dictated by the whim of the moment and instead are collaboratively planned with reflection, analysis and wisdom, to ensure that children are the benefactors and that the policies are sustainable. We see too often, policies changed by governments who are seeking to make their own marks or to garner favour with the voting public.

How can child care professionals adapt to these changes
Policy changes always bring challenges to children, families and educators at some level. The changes that we are implementing through the Education and Care National Regulations 2011 have been considerable. Many educators have experienced difficulty changing from a structured programming format to the stronger child initiated approach through the Early Years Learning Framework. Educators who have embraced the new framework and are experiencing the positive outcomes for children are excited as they move forward, gaining stronger curriculum knowledge and confidently allow children to actively be involved in their own learning.

Professional Development and appropriate training through colleges and registered training organisations is vital to the continued success of this new national process. Networking for educators is imperative and it is exciting to see how much of this is now occurring through social media and other online opportunities.

Final words?
Above all else I say to our educators, "Each day we are making a difference in the lives of children. A difference can be positive or negative and it is our responsibility to ensure that each word and action that we send forth provides positive reinforcement to each child that they are unique and valued. Your work will make such a difference to their entire being. Be proud of yourselves and of your profession and while at times it is a struggle and we may question our dedication, we are on a path that will see community recognition of the important part we play in society."