Child Care News
Sector voices speak out ahead of Jobs and Skills Summit calling for wage rise
The Sector - Freya Lucas - August 30, 2022A number of prominent early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector advocates have spoken out ahead of the Jobs and Skills Summit, to be held later this week, calling for an increase in wages for the ECEC sector. With the ECEC sector facing acute workforce shortages...
Five days a week of free preschool seems like a no-brainer to anyone with a heart. But there's one big catch
ABC NEWS - Virginia Trioli - August 27, 2022They're not supposed to get along, and they're certainly not supposed to get together over big buckets of money. What did Paul Keating famously say about the dangers of getting in between premiers and a pile of money? And since when do the leaders of the two most populous...
UNE academic Dr Marg Rogers calls for Jobs and Skills Summit to focus on ECEC
The Sector - Freya Lucas - August 26, 2022The upcoming National Jobs and Skills Summit, to be held 1 and 2 September, needs to focus on fixing the crisis in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector, prominent University of New England (UNE) academic Dr Marg Rogers has said. Although many families have...
‘Like a six figure salary’: Australian childcare centres reveal ways to win, keep staff
The Courier Mail - Julie Cross - August 20, 2022Exclusive: Diamond earrings, $50,000 relocation bonuses, $1 a day childcare and free breakfasts. These are some of the extraordinary incentives struggling childcare providers are hoping will win them new employees and help keep them. It comes as one in seven long day care...
NSW Government commits to free training to boost ECEC workforce
The Sector - Freya Lucas - August 19, 2022The New South Wales Government has announced it will provide 25,000 fee-free training places to boost the number of educators in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector. Announced earlier this week by NSW Minister for Skills and Training Alister Henskens...
Victoria needs 11,000 new kinder teachers. Where will they come from?
The Age - Adam Carey - August 24, 2022Victoria will need to find more than 10,000 extra early childhood teachers to deliver on its promise to expand kindergarten to all three- and four-year-old children but must reverse a nationwide exodus from post-secondary enrolments in early education courses to do so...
Buyers sounded out for after-school care provider Camp Australia
The Australian - Bridget Carter - August 23, 2022Lenders to Camp Australia could be getting closer to a restructuring deal for the business. It is understood that prospective buyers have been sounded out about a purchase. Camp Australia provides before and after-school care and holiday care for children. It was purchased by...
‘Economic insanity’: Willing to work, needed to work but stuck on hold
The Sydney Morning Herald - Danielle Wood - August 18, 2022On the weekend, I spoke with a woman I know professionally. She’s incredibly bright, and a leading light in her field. She planned for a year off when her first child was born but now finds herself languishing at No.48 on a 70-person waitlist for the eight spots in the “under-2s”...
COVID changed drop-off and pick ups – but parents can still have a strong relationship with their child’s educators
The Conversation - Katherine Bussey, Deborah Moore, Natalie Robertson, Shelli Giosis - August 17, 2022One of the most obvious changes COVID has made to early childhood education in Australia has been around drop-offs and pick-ups. Pre-pandemic, parents would come into centres and help their child settle in every day. During this time, they could see where their child spent...
Fee-free training to supercharge NSW's early learning workforce
NSW Government - August 16, 2022The early childhood workforce is set to boom with the NSW Government committing 25,000 fee-free training places to bolster the pipeline of skilled and job-ready workers for the early learning and care sector. Minister for Skills and Training Alister Henskens said the fee-free...
Childcare and women’s participation loom as key issues at jobs summit
The Sydney Morning Herald - Katina Curtis - August 14, 2022An increasing shortfall of childcare workers will put the brakes on the government’s productivity plans, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher acknowledges, as big business calls for women’s workforce participation to be treated as a core economic issue. Ahead of next month’s...
Childcare staff shortages ‘must top jobs summit agenda’
The Australian - Sarah Ison - August 11, 2022Early educators are urging the federal government to put workforce shortages in childcare at the top of the jobs summit agenda before trying to fix issues in other sectors, arguing such efforts would be “derailed if parents can’t access quality appropriate childhood education...
Childcare sector reaching crisis point over workforce shortages and low wages
Community childcare centre director Rebecca Stiles is close to breaking point. After 27 years in the industry, she's now contemplating what was once unthinkable – joining the exodus from childcare and education. "That's actually heartbreaking, to think that crosses...
Kindergartens to refund parents all advanced 2023 fees under overhaul
Herald Sun - Olivia Jenkins - August 8, 2022Kindergarten centres must refund parents all advanced 2023 fees and accept as many children as their facility allows when Victoria’s early childhood system is overhauled next year. Under new guidelines seen by the Herald Sun that will be sent out to providers...
ABS reports 4.6% fall in net childcare costs as CCS affordability changes trump fee increases
The Sector - Jason Roberts - August 8, 2022Child care prices fell by 4.6 per cent in the three months ended June 2022 across the metropolitan cities of Australia compared to the same period last year as changes to the Child Care Subsidy continued to flow through to improve overall affordability for families...
