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The Budget & Child Care
Snapshot
 The Child Care Rebate (CCR) will capped to the 2008-09 level of $7,500 per child from the current annual cap of $7,778 per child and indexation of the cap will be paused for four years from 1 July 2010.
A $14.8 million program to support the start-up of family daycare centres with payments of between $1500 to $5000 is to be scrapped, with the government saying it had not worked to establish viable businesses.
The Minister for Early Childhood Education and Child Care will have new powers to commission an independent, confidential investigation or audit of a particular provider where there are concerns about their financial viability.
$59.4 million to improve the quality of 142 Budget Based Funded early childhood services located in rural and remote Australia. This will improve infrastructure and staff qualifications to support some of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
$81.9 million to implement the new National Quality Standards which includes the first national rating system for child care and early education services, so parents have the information they need to make the best choices for their children.
$1.9 million to support new regulatory measures to help achieve ongoing stability in the child care market in the wake of the ABC Learning crisis. This includes developing measures that require large child care providers entering the market to prove their financial viability.
Sources: Dept of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian. |
Keeping You In The Know
Free daily child care news feed
 The child care sector is going through a period of rapid change right now and sometimes it feels as though there is a new Government announcement every other day.
Staying on top of industry news should be a priority for child care professionals during this time of change, however, the reality is no one has enough time to sift through all papers and read the relevant bits.
In an effort to tackle this issue head on CareforKids.com.au is delighted to announce the launch of our FREE daily news feed.
We collate all the most important and relevant industry news of the day and email it to you in a single easy to read message, on days when there is no news then you won’t receive a message.
This opt in service will ensure you are up-to-date on industry news as and when it happens.
To take advantage of this great new service click on the link below.
» Subscribe here… |
Celebrating Excellence At The
2010 Child Care Awards
National child care award winners announced
 The National Winners of the sixth annual Australian Family Child Care Awards were recently announced with Western Australia taking the top prize in three of the four award categories.
The awards recognise the outstanding efforts made by child care professionals in achieving exceptional experiences and outcomes for young children and their families.
National Child Care Director of the Year was won by Nerida Campbell of Bright Start Child Care Centre, Katanning, WA
National Children's Service of the Year was won by Little Angels Day Care Centre in Bunbury, WA
National Rising Star Award winner was Tiffany Wylde of Stratton out of School Hours Care, Stratton, WA
The final award is National Child Care Worker of the Year and for the first time in the award's history the title was won by a male. Glen O'Brien works at the Renmark Children's Centre, Renmark SA.
» Read the full article…
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Family Day Care Australia Five Year Plan
Map to the future of family based child care
 Family Day Care Australia has launched a new Five Year Plan designed to map out the future of family based child care in the changing child care environment.
The Minister for Early Childhood Education and Child Care Kate Ellis launched the plan which is titled Working for a Stronger Future and said the Government would deliver $390,000 over the next three years to help FDCA implement the proposed improvements.
"Family day care provides a unique and natural early learning environment for children and we're working with the sector to adapt and grow during this time of change for early childhood education and care in Australia," said Ms Ellis.
FDCA Chief Executive Officer Ms Rhonda Bignell said the goal of the plan is to create a path that will provide the highest quality care, learning and developmental outcomes for children in the family day care environment, supported by a qualified and well resourced workforce.
"The plan provides strategies, activities and measures which will enable the family day care sector to take up the challenges of the National Quality Framework signed off by the Council of Australian Governments in December 2009," said Ms Bignell.
The Five Year Plan covers the following six key result areas:
» Read the full article… |
What Do You Think About The New Rating System?
Share your views by taking our mini-poll
 As part of the Government's National Quality Framework a new rating system is to be introduced with each service being rated on the quality of service they provide.
Services will be assessed on their performance across the seven quality areas that make up the new National Quality Standard and given one overall rating.
All services will need to display their approval and rating information and ratings will also be available on the internet.
According to Government, the rating system will provide parents with consistent information which can be used to assist them in comparing services and will help services identify the areas they need to improve.
There are five levels against which services across Australia will be assessed based on the National Quality Standard:
- Unsatisfactory: indicates that a service is not meeting the standard and the regulator is working closely with the service to immediately improve its quality. If there is no improvement the centre will be closed.
- Operating Level: indicates that a service is working towards meeting the standard. All new services will commence operation with an Operating Level rating.
- National Quality Standard: indicates that a service is meeting the standard.
- High Quality: indicates that a service is exceeding the National Quality Standard.
- Excellent: indicates that a service demonstrates excellence and is recognised as a leader in the sector. Services will need to apply to be assessed against this rating.
» Take the Poll
We will report on the findings next month. In the meantime go to CareforKids.com.au/Social to share your views.
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National Workforce Census
Assessing the qualifications and experience of Australian child care workers
 In an attempt to assess the qualifications and experience of Australian child care workers, the Government is running the National Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce Census (National Workforce Census) from 31 May to 30 July 2010.
The National Workforce Census will gather information from all approved child care providers and preschools/kindergartens and their individual staff.
According to DEEWR the questions are focused on collecting information about staff including: demographics, employment details, qualifications, capacity and whether staff deliver preschool programs.
Matthew Hardy from DEEWR's Performance and Analysis Branch said the National Workforce Census would provide critical data to inform the Early Years Development Workforce Strategy which is due for COAG consideration later this year.
According to Government this strategy will provide a long-term blueprint to support recruitment, retention and career pathways of the early childhood workforce and the growth of qualifications of those working with children.
Child care service providers can expect to receive additional information anytime from the end of May.
For more information contact the National Workforce Census hotline on FREECALL 1800-639-098 or nwc@srcentre.com.au, ECECCensus@deewr.gov.au or check deewr.gov.au/earlychildhood.
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Findings - Staff Ratio Changes Poll
85% will need to raise fees to cover additional costs
 In last month's mini poll an overwhelming 86% of you said you would be affected by the Government's new national quality standards.
Interestingly 51% of you said the Government should not exempt services with a proven track record of excellence from the new staff ratios. 28% said they should be exempted and 21% of you said you were unsure.
85% indicated that they will need to raise fees to cover additional costs with 36% estimating a fee increase of $5 to $10 per day and 20% indicating an increase from $10 to $20 per day. 6% indicated they would increase fees by more than $20 per day.
These are some of the comments we received in response to the question how will your service be affected:
"We have a 60 place preschool, ten of those spots are for babies. We have two staff but with the changes we will need an extra staff member. That means putting the price up or just having eight babies and putting two extra kids in another room. We are struggling with numbers due to the increase of fees to cover our costs, so if we don't get more kids from two-five, we will close the babies room to be able to meet the needs for the other rooms."
"HUGELY I am not happy, we are a small family grouping centre and we provide the best care possible to our children. I would hate to see the centre close but it is a real possibility."
"We already have one to four ratio in WA we also employ a floater staff in our centre. Our current qualified staff are not interested in further training to meet the new requirements so what do we do? We are a not for profit centre and can't afford to employ another staff member when our numbers changes. We will have no choice but to reduce our numbers.
"I have been concerned for some time as there is now an oversupply of child care in most suburbs and investors are still building them. I am concerned about our viability, our cash flow is changed with the advent of CCMS and we frequently wait over two weeks to be paid. We are a small business and cannot sustain ourselves without cash flow. For the last 16 years or more the changes have been difficult to keep up with. When will it end?"
"We will have to possibly restrict our under twos and as we are a small centre we may have to close or put up our fees. It will get far too costly to run a small centre. The government needs to have a good look at the situation, before it's too late for small centres in rural areas. If we close it will greatly affect the town, and our mums would then become unemployed due to no childcare."
If you would like to comment further on Staff Ratios click here to go to CareforKids Social and share your views
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Interview
Kika Massouras
Owner of Small World Day Child Care Centre
Carrara QLD
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Child care professionals share a commitment to improving society by creating dynamic and nurturing care environments for Australia's youngest learners.
Read this month's Child Care Person in the spotlight Kika Massouras Owner of Small World Day Child Care Centre 1 & 2 in Carrara QLD.
» Read the interview…
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 If you or someone you know deserves to be featured in this section drop us a line at editor@careforkids.com.au.
Each child care person we profile will receive a copy of Play School Collection (3 DVD set) for their service.
Courtesy of ABC Kids and Roadshow Entertainment.
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Defining & Identifying Bullying
A clear path through the maze
 This month we are proud to present the second in our series of articles about preventing bullying behaviours in the early childhood education sector by the Director of Break Through Bullying Melissa Graham.
Talking about bullying can be difficult. It is a subject that raises emotions, stirs personal stories and invites opinions from people about what can be done to overcome this problem. It is a topic that needs sensitivity and a rational, informed approach. Talking about bullying is the way that we can come to terms with the issues and work as a community to make positive changes. It helps if we are all talking the same language.
Defining bullying and the terms that surround it can be crucial for your organisation and for the education of the staff, parents and children who are members of your community. Clear definitions stated in Positive Behaviour or Guidance policy documents can assist all educators of young children to understand what bullying is and how to identify it, before tackling the issue of how to address the bullying behaviours and assist the children involved.
Also, knowing the difference between bullying and incidents of inappropriate behaviour in our educational settings helps us as carers to intervene confidently and effectively deal with challenging behaviour situations.
» Read the full article…
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National Long Day Care Conference
Combining education & care
The 2010 National Long Day Care Conference - 'Combining Education & Care' will highlight the importance of the early years and embracing the National Quality Agenda reforms.
The conference is expected to attract delegates from all over Australia, including childcare centre owners, licencees, directors, childcare centre staff, prospective owners and other key industry stakeholders.
Friday 30th July to Sunday 1st August 2010
Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort & Spa, Gold Coast
» More details…
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Featured posts
CareforKids Social
New Staff Ratios may mean fewer child care places
Have you successfully dealt with bullying in your child care service
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