Child Care News
Call to improve safety for childcare workers
Herald Sun - Rebecca David - October 1, 2015MORE than 300 workers are seriously injured every year in childcare centres and preschools throughout Victoria. WorkSafe Victoria figures reveal a steady rise in the number claims made by childcare and preschool staff between 2010 and 2015, with an average of 347 claims per year...
Time spent in childcare delivers mixed results for kids, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report finds
News.com.au - Lauren Wilson - September 30, 2015A new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has found childcare centres must be delivering high quality early learning programs for 0-3 year olds, or children in care risk developing language deficiencies. The report found children from disadvantaged backgrounds...
Australia should follow the research and provide free universal childcare
The Guardian - Edward Melhuish - September 29, 2015This attitude to childcare is driven by a false distinction between childcare and education. It is true that childcare policies are in part about looking after children to enable parents who want do work to do so. But should this be the pre-eminent goal of policy, as the recent Productivity Commission...
Sacrifices grandparents make so parents can go to work
Sydney Morning Herald - Cosima Marriner - September 27, 2015Grandparents are sacrificing work, income, travel and recreation to care for their grandchildren so the parents can go to work. Three-quarters of grandparents believe regular childcare is a normal part of their role, according to a University of NSW study of how childcare affects grandparents' work...
Australia needs to encourage more women to work
Financial Review - Dan Tehan - September 27, 2015There are very good economic reasons for tackling female workforce participation as a matter of priority. As a recent Grattan Institute report has shown, an increase in female workforce participation of 6 per cent in Australia, which would bring us into line with Canada, would mean the size of the our...
Cost of childcare in Brisbane rivals the price parents pay to send kids to state's top private schools
The Courier Mail - Brittany Vonow - September 26, 2015CHILDCARE fees at some Brisbane daycare centres rival the cost of some of the city's most expensive private schools.The exorbitant fees for five-days-a-week care have hit $31,200 a year at some centres. The $7500 government subsidy available to families reduces it to $23,700...
What a difference a portfolio makes: early learning is not babysitting
The Conversation - Susan Krieg - September 25, 2015However, in the current debates about childcare, the rhetoric of the labour market still dominates discussion regarding the importance of childcare for the economy. This is because government responsibility for young children has been framed in particular ways using a market-driven...
G8 Education chairwoman resigns
The Australian - John Conroy - September 24, 2015G8 Education chairwoman Jenny Hutson will step down from the board next month after the company's bid for Affinity Education was topped by a rival offer. Ms Hutson has led the company through a period of rapid expansion as it has pursued acquisitions, but the group's most...
Concerns over childcare assessment
Yahoo News - Patrick Condren - September 23, 2015It has been revealed more than half of Queensland's childcare centres have failed to pass national standards, or have not been assessed, in the wake of a worker being charged with the attempted rape of a two-year-old boy. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has promised that Queensland's...
New Education Minister Simon Birmingham out to lift status of vocational training
Sydney Morning Herald - Matthew Knott - September 22, 2015Senator Birmingham said he was committed to implementing the government''s childcare reforms, which would see most families $30 a week better off, but would introduce tougher work activity tests for parents. The changes have been linked to cuts to family payments opposed by...
Education Minister Simon Birmingham on early learning curve
The Australian - Sarah Martin - September 22, 2105New Education Minister Simon Birmingham will drive reforms to the childcare sector with an emphasis on early learning and productivity, as he takes over the revamped portfolio in Malcolm Turnbull's new cabinet. Senator Birmingham, whose cabinet responsibilities will take childcare...
Anchorage Capital Partners on track to buy Affinity Education
Financial Review - September 21, 2015The private equity firm bidding for childcare centre operator Affinity Education has secured financing and is on track to complete its $208.3 million takeover. Affinity says Anchorage Capital Partners has confirmed the financing for the 92 cents per share deal, which it recommends shareholders accept...
Parents' groups praise Malcolm Turnbull for moving childcare back into education portfolio
News.com.au - Lauren Wilson - September 20, 2015CHILDCARE has been moved out of social services and back into the education portfolio in a move welcomed by the sector as recognition that early learning is an not just a welfare issue. Simon Birmingham has been appointed Minster for Education in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's new look...
Childcare worker charged with attempted rape of two-year-old boy
The Sunday Mail - Kay Dibben - September 20, 2015A CHILDCARE worker has been charged with the attempted rape of a two-year-old boy in the laundry of a Brisbane centre. It will be alleged a woman who went to the centre on Friday to pick up her friend’s child claims she found the boy being forced to give the man oral sex. The woman had arrived…
Children's diets increasingly restricted due to over-cautious parents
News.com.au - Jackie Sinnerton - September 18, 2015Nutritionist Kate Di Prima said parents were self-diagnosing food allergies in their children without seeking medical help. Ms Di Prima said it was becoming more difficult for schools and childcare centres to cater to children's dietary needs because of pushy parents demanding a strict organic diet...
