For some parents, child care drop-off may create unsettling or anxious feelings.
Will there be enough educators? Who is that new casual carer?
Childcare leaders say they understand the distress parents are experiencing after allegations of physical abuse and sexual abuse in childcare centres in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
Children are being exposed to childcare staff who lack basic training, an ABC investigation has revealed, and multiple states have committed to sector-wide reforms.
Childcare workers say some centres are doing their best to ensure child safety. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
Sydney educator and childcare centre assistant director Arianne, who asked for her surname not to be used, said it was difficult for parents to trust the childcare environment.
“If I was a parent, I’d be making sure that all rooms were completely open,” she said.
“How is the turnover of staff? Do the fees that you pay go back into your centre? Just asking loads and loads of questions.”
Discrepancies across centres
Arianne said her centre went beyond standardised ratios and had two educators for every four to five children, all staff completed a child protection course, and a thorough staff vetting process was in place, but she saw concerning practices at other centres.
Inadequate staffing ratios are highlighted as a major child care concern. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
She remembered having to care for 16 children under the age of two alone and being told not to allow any children to play outside all day while working at large services that wanted to get “as many children in as possible”.
“They’ll hire anyone,”
Arianne said.
“They don’t do their due diligence because they just don’t care, as long as there’s ‘under the roof’ ratio.”
A United Workers Union survey of 2,100 childcare workers revealed 83 per cent of workers reported centres used a common staffing loophole called the “under the roof” ratio, which counted all workers in a centre, rather than numbers in individual rooms.
It is legal under the National Quality Framework.
Minimum standards insufficient, educators say
Owner and director of Jane’s Place Early Learning Centre in central Sydney, Jane Zarfati, said ensuring child safety required more than complying with minimum childcare regulations.
She said vetting staff and daily onsite management were key.
“We have different processes in regards to supervision, so we don’t have just one staff member with a child at any time,” she said.
“If there are children using the bathrooms, for example, there’s always someone supervising, but there will also be someone in eyeshot as well.”
Ms Zarfati said she conducted police checks and reference checks, as well as working with children checks when hiring staff, and ensured applicants had proper and up-to-date qualifications.
The centre also uses CCTV throughout, which is one of the key considerations in proposed reforms to the childcare sector.
Childcare workers say there are discrepancies in standards across centres. (ABC News: Keana Naughton)
But Ms Zarfati said not every centre followed these procedures.
“Sometimes these checks and balances aren’t done, and then the regulatory bodies aren’t manned enough … to pull up things that aren’t being done correctly or have been overlooked,” she said.
A NSW Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority spokesperson said it thoroughly investigated all allegations or complaints and conducted “more visits to services than any other regulatory authority across the country”, but it knew “more needs to be done”.
Understaffing concerns
Educator Samantha, whose surname has been withheld for legal reasons, said she was concerned about the use of the “under the roof” ratio loophole in centres she had worked at in NSW, which meant some rooms were understaffed.
Both were part of Affinity Education Group, which has more than 250 centres in Australia and has been in the news after staff at different centres in Queensland, NSW and Victoria were charged with offences against children in unrelated incidents.
NSW’s childcare regulator says it knows “more needs to be done”. (ABC News: Stephanie Zillman)
“We were also under pressure to not turn children away when they were dropped off in the morning,”
Samantha said.
She said even if the baby room had the minimum national requirement of two educators to eight babies, she felt “it wasn’t best practice”.
“That national regulation needs to change,” Samantha said, referring to the National Quality Framework.
Educators say parents are concerned about leaving their children with unfamiliar staff. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
Samantha said she saw firsthand how the centre handled the regulator’s assessment and ratings, by “back loading” with “a lot of resources and educators that no-one knows”.
Affinity Education Group said in a statement that while it used the industry practice of “under the roof” ratios, it complied with and often exceeded the government’s mandated educator-to-child ratio requirements.
It said it took compliance issues seriously, was committed to meeting or exceeding the standards set by regulatory bodies, and was working to strengthen safety.
Tips for parents
So, how can parents be reassured that their childcare centre is not just compliant, but taking child safety seriously?
Casual educator agency Talent Now founder and chief executive Liddy Korner said staff consistency was important, and managers should check that educators had the correct qualifications.
Ms Korner said good operators did not rely on the “under the roof” ratio requirement and always worked above minimum ratios, even the national requirement of one educator to four babies.
“There should always be a minimum of two, and that shouldn’t be hard to change,” she said.
Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh said in a statement it was concerning that some educators suggested their providers were not meeting National Quality Framework staff ratios.
She said those ratios were “vital for keeping children safe and providing quality early education”.
Ms Walsh said the government was introducing legislation to cut Commonwealth funding to providers who put profit over child safety, and it was holding an urgent education ministers’ meeting next month to create a nationwide educator register.
Reporter Katherine Gregory sends her children to Jane’s Place Early Learning Centre.
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