This week CEO of the Community Child Care Co-operative NSW, Leanne Gibbs, shares her views on why the child care sector needs and deserves a period of stability following the election.

When I was a very new mother I went to an education session at the hospital called Soothing Crying Babies. This was a hugely interesting topic to all of us there who were crumbling under sleep deprivation. The best tip I heard that day, and remember years later, was 'stick with the program and don't be tempted to change all the time'. Be prepared to go through some rocky periods but keep at it, become dependable and eventually your baby will calm and settle. They were right.

So why am I bringing this up now? Well lately I have been watching a sector that might just be crumbling under a regime of unrelenting change: changes to funding, changes to workforce and wages, changes to programs that support service delivery, and even the proposal that we need to change a system that has barely had time to settle. The political cycle means that indeed the opposing party needs to propose sweeping changes because why else would they need to be elected? And the proposal for a Productivity Commission Inquiry? Bah humbug.
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In response to numerous emails from our readers seeking advice on a range of issues relating to the early childhood sector we have decided to launch a monthly column where you can ask a question and have it answered by your peers and colleagues.

Peer-to-peer advice is one of the best ways of solving workplace issues and we hope that providing you with a forum to anonymously ask questions will be a valuable way of learning from the experience and knowledge of your peers in the sector.

Questions can relate to any aspect of early childhood education and care.

This month's question comes from Ally:

"I work as a centre assistant at a long day care service.

How can someone who is not in a room but who relieves staff for breaks and for non-contact time satisfy the assessors' requirements?

I am studying towards my Diploma and will hopefully complete it this year and I understand what we should be doing as educators but cannot put it into practice.

Being in a room for 10 minutes at a time then moving to other rooms, then coming back and covering 30 minute breaks and leaving quickly again is very disheartening. I feel more like a cleaner than an educator. I do observations for educators while they are absent from their rooms but cannot follow up my observations.

Are there other educators in this position? What do you suggest I do?"

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