A record 4446 people filled out the 2016 CareforKids.com.au Child Care and Workforce Participation Survey, demonstrating how important early childhood education and care is to parents and child care professionals.
This year we more clearly directed some questions to parents and carers and some questions to early childhood professionals.
Of our 4446 survey respondents just under 60 per cent were parents and just over 40 per cent identified as early childhood education and care providers.
What providers said
This year we sought to learn more about how early childhood providers feel about the child care system in Australia and what could be done to improve the current challenges. The issue of pay for early childhood professionals is often raised as a problem and a resounding 70 per cent of you feel that low pay is the main reason we don't have enough people working in the early childhood sector.
Despite the chronic pay situation 65 per cent of early childhood professionals said they would continue working in the sector, which is good news for Australian families.
14 per cent of respondents said they wouldn't stay in child care in the long term and 21 per cent don't know and have adopted a wait and see approach.
The survey results indicate that many of you have a ho-hum attitude to governments constant tweaking early childhood rules and regulations. Just 15 per cent of you said the government's additional proposed reforms (the single payment and changed payment thresholds) would improve access and affordability for families and 18 per cent of you said they would improve quality.
What parents said
This year we also asked parents to comment on various aspects of their early childhood service, a massive 74 per cent of parents and carers believe play not education should be the focus in early childhood settings and a similarly huge 86 per cent of parents and carers support the 'No Jab No play' laws.
Despite plenty of media coverage about high end services in early childhood settings they are still fairly rare and only 18 per cent of parents said their service offered premium services.
The services on offer included an onsite chef, foreign language instruction (Mandarin, French, Japanese, Spanish to name a few), yoga, dance or movement (including Zumba and ballet), meditation, hairdresser, sport (including tennis, rugby and soccer), allied health such as OT and speech therapy and parenting courses.
Interestingly these premium services do not seem to be a significant factor for parents when they are looking for care with just 15 per cent claiming 'high end' services were important.
The good news is that the majority of parents using early childhood services are very happy with their provider with 65 per cent claiming the carers and facilities are excellent. 33 per cent said their services were okay, while just 3 per cent gave their service a rating of below average or poor.
In-depth survey results
If you are interested in learning more about the results from the 2016 CareforKids.com.au Child Care and Workforce Participation Survey make sure you read our in-depth report based on parent responses.
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