Child Care News
'No jab no play': Unvaccinated poor could be shut out of childcare, experts fear
The Age - Timma Jacks - January 31, 2016Tough new "no jab no play" laws could hurt children who have not been immunised due to family dysfunction, poverty, or poor access to medical support, experts warn. From January 1 this year, children who have not received the recommended vaccinations will not be allowed to enrol in...
Children are better at maths if they don't go to preschool: study
Sydney Morning Herald - Cosima Marriner - January 31, 2016Using data from 1300 children participating in the study, University of Melbourne researchers compared the maths and language skills of children who attended preschool, long day care and family day care, with those looked after by non-professional child carers. They predicted that children who attended...
Senator Simon Birmingham writes to crossbenchers calling for support for childcare rebates to help low income families
Herald Sun - Lauren Wilson - January 30, 2016The letter cites new Department of Education modelling showing 815,700 families will be better off under the new single childcare subsidy, with the majority of these winners low to middle income families earning between $65,000 and $170,000. Around 140,500 families, spread across all income...
External exams to help fight college cheats
The Australian - Natasha Bita - January 30, 2016Audits by the Australian Skills Quality Authority have warned of the potential for cheating and identity fraud in some training courses. Some training colleges let students "self-assess" their knowledge to gain a diploma in childcare, aged care or security work. The Australian has also revealed how...
Spotlight shone on VET assessment
The Australian - Julie Hare - January 28, 2016The federal government is looking to overhaul assessment of vocational education and training in a bid to stem rorts and poor quality courses. The government's discussion paper follows investigations by the Australian Skills Quality Authority into the quality of training in certain sectors, including child care...
Health and school costs hit families hard
The Australian - Adam Creighton - January 28, 2016Private-sector workers with children are watching their buying power shrink as the cost of schools, medicine and childcare gallops ahead of their modest wages rises. While consumer prices overall rose only 1.7 per cent last year, the cost of education and health services - which consume relatively large...
Talking Point: Hourly rates could sink state childcare sector
The Mercury - Jo Walsh - January 28, 2016Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham has made the assumption that hourly rates will be cheaper for families. Far from it. All services have fixed operational costs — rent, insurance, rates, regulatory fees. These do not reduce if the service operates lesser hours or if use fluctuates. The biggest...
ABC Learning CFO James Black beats expulsion
Courier Mail - Liam Walsh - January 27, 2016THE chief financial officer convicted for providing $46 million in misleading information to auditors at childcare giant ABC Learning Centres has avoided being expelled from his professional organisation. Instead, Chartered Accountants Australia-New Zealand has issued a one-year ban against Brisbane...
Anti-vaxxers now keeping silent about kids' immunisation status
Sydney Morning Herald - Cosima Marriner - January 24, 2016Parents who choose not to immunise their kids are keeping it a secret from family and friends, rather than have to justify their controversial decision. Edith Cowan University researchers interviewed a group of parents from an anti-vaccination cluster area about their reasons for not immunising their children...
Gastro outbreak hits Canberra childcare
Sydney Morning Herald - Clare Sibthorpe - January 19, 2015It was the first outbreak of 2016 to involve ACT Health. "But the year is young, and we do have an upsurge at this time of year, particularly in childcares," Dr Kelly said. Despite being highly infectious, norovirus doesn't tend to amplify from childcares into the community. But even one case could become...
'No jab, no pay': Why some parents are still ignoring the Turnbull Government's vaccine pleas
The Advertiser - Lauren Wilson - January 17, 2015With government handouts to be cut in coming weeks, AMA president Dr Brian Owler said the laws were "already having a beneficial effect" on immunisation numbers. "In NSW we are already seeing a significant increase in people coming in, not only with one child, but groups of children, to get vaccinated...
One in five Australian children starting school 'developmentally vulnerable'
Sydney Morning Herald - Tom Joyner - January 17, 2016One in five Australian school kids is starting school "developmentally vulnerable" in at least one area such as language, cognitive skills or communication, new research shows. It also found a major factor in determining a child's "preparedness" for school is socio-economic background as well as language...
Low paid workers $10,000 worse off under Turnbull parental leave cuts: research
Sydney Morning Herald - Fergus Hunter - January 14, 2016New parents in low-paid jobs stand to be $10,500 worse off under a Turnbull government paid parental leave plan intended as a compromise on cuts proposed by Tony Abbott, according to new university research. The research, commissioned by women's group Fair Agenda and conducted by...
Early childhood teachers in NSW to be accredited like their primary school counterparts: Minister
Sydney Morning Herald - Phoebe Moloney - January 12, 2016Early childhood teachers will be required to have qualifications from government approved universities and complete ongoing professional development to maintain their accreditation. NSW Minister for Education Adrian Piccoli announced on Tuesday that early childhood teachers will be subject to...
Australian preschoolers take to Indonesian quicker than Japanese or French
The Daily Telegraph - Lauren Wilson - January 12, 2016An interim report into the federal government's early learning language app suggests preschoolers are finding it easier to learn Indonesian and Japanese than French. The report, by auditing firm Deloitte, found the language learning iPads apps, developed by the government, are easy for children to use...
