Child Care News

Early childhood educators rely on families to prop up low income, research finds
The Conversation - Paula McDonald, Karen Thorpe and Susan Irvine - November 24, 2016

Early childhood educators struggling in low-paid jobs often have to prop up their income through family members and/or partners, new research shows. Wages for qualified early childhood teachers have improved over time. However, incomes of those with vocational qualifications, including...

AMA head criticises 'demonisation' of big pharma by anti-vaxxers
The Guardian - Melissa Davey - November 23, 2016

The president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Michael Gannon, says it has been disappointing to see a growing "demonisation of pharmaceutical companies" by the anti-vaccination movement in an attempt to promote distrust of proven medicines. Gannon made the comments in...

ACT preschools trial successful language
Canberra Times - Karen Hardy - November 23, 2016

Federal Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham this week announced the program would be extended, with Italian and Spanish being introduced in 2017 and Hindi and Modern Greek in 2018. Almost 10,000 children across Australia have been part of the $9.8 million program so far...

Childcare workers are underpaid because we're women. We are the working poor
The Guardian - Margaret Carey - November 22, 2016

A recent cause for great glee in the stock market is that profits for early childhood corporates profits have hit the billion dollar mark. I for one am not celebrating. This profit, and the early childhood sector as a whole, are built on my back and on the backs of tens of thousands of other women who...

Anti-vaxxers: 'No jab, no classroom' in flu season
The Daily Telegraph - Rose Brennan - November 22, 2016

NSW Health Director Communicable Diseases Dr Vicky Sheppeard said the objection was not being scrapped for fear of "exacerbating the disadvantage some of those children may have". There are also concerns it would lead to a rise in rogue childcare centres catering only to unvaccinated children...

Church ran daycare scheme after charges
Courier Mail - Kelmeny Fraser and Kate McKenna - November 20, 2016

A QUEENSLAND church that police believe covered up child sexual abuse allegations was still running a family daycare scheme more than two years after charges were laid against one of its officials. The Goodna-based Free Pentecostal Church of Australia was operating a family daycare business...

'It's shocking, their greed': Private equity squeezing profits from childcare
Sydney Morning Herald - Kelsey Munro - November 19, 2016

Some parents of children attending a for-profit childcare service run by the private equity firm that floated Dick Smith say its centres are being run into the ground as profits are siphoned off. Fee increases, a mass exodus of staff, cuts to cleaning services, and forced Christmas holiday attendance...

Children who attend preschool more socially and emotionally mature, study finds
Sunday Herald Sun - Genevieve Alison - November 19, 2016

CHILDREN who attend preschool have higher literacy and numeracy scores and are more socially and emotionally mature than those who don't, a national study has found. But despite the proven positive effects only 73 per cent of five year olds are enrolled in preschool or kindergarten. In the...

Learning Curve: Education experts raise concerns over high number of prep students being banned
ABC News - Lexy Hamilton-Smith & Patrick Williams - November 18, 2016

The high number of prep students being banned from Queensland schools has been put under scrutiny in a special forum hosted by the ABC in Brisbane. Learning Curve, a recording of which airs tonight on ABC TV in Queensland and on ABC News 24 nationally, featured some of the best...

Mayfield Childcare IPO scaled back
Financial Review - Matthew Cranston - November 16, 2016

ASX-float candidate Mayfield Childcare has scaled back with a revised offer, now seeking to raise $24 million for a portfolio of 16 centres within a 160-kilometre radius of the Melbourne CBD. The float, as foreshadowed in the AFR's Street Talk last month, was initially seeking to raise $35 million for...

Coalition program trials subsidised nannies for working parents
The Australian - Rick Morton - November 16, 2016

Single parents, large families and those isolated in regional Australia are keen for subsidised nannies to become part of the childcare solution, according to new research that reveals the toll of caring decisions faced by mums and dads. A new report into flexible childcare arrangements and...

Opinion: Underfire childcare workers don''t get the respect they deserve
The Courier Mail - Kylie Lang - November 16, 2016

WHEN news broke this week that one in four Queensland childcare operators is failing to meet national quality standards, workers on the frontline came under fire, yet again, for the job they do. Amid feedback from disgruntled parents, irate childcare managers who slammed the assessment criteria...

Formal child care 'fails' parents
The West Australian - Angela Pownall - November 15, 2016

Formal child care has failed to keep up with changes in today's modern labour market of varied hours and shift work, causing stress and difficulty for working parents, research has found. The Australian Institute of Family Studies study found parents were forced to change their jobs or working...

Mayfield Childcare out to extend its reach
The Australian - Simon Hermann - November 15, 2016

Eight years after the liquidation of ABC Learning, the childcare sector continues to experience growth - but have investors fully recovered from the disastrous collapse of the former industry giant? The success of specialist childcare companies such as G8 Education (ASX: GEM) and Think Childcare...

Preschoolers given classes in racial prejudice
Herald Sun - Susie O'Brien - November 15, 2016

PRESCHOOLERS as young as three are encouraged to identify racial prejudice and celebrate difference in a new Australian Human Rights Commission program. The Building Belonging program, for use in primary schools and preschool and childcare centres, aims to help educators...