Child Care News
Parents ignore speech problems: study
The Australian - Clifford Fram - April 29, 2013SIGNS of delayed language skills development are often missed in preschool children, putting them at risk of long-term educational and mental health problems. A study of 900 pre-schoolers has found half of those with communication issues are missing out on help from a professional. The...
Childcare campaign helps educate parents
7News - Mia Greves - April 28, 2013A new multimillion dollar campaign is helping educate parents on how to claim childcare benefits. Early Childcare groups have welcomed the move, saying it's about time the Government made the system less confusing. The new Child Care Rebate cuts out of pocket expenses for approved...
Childcare closures as landlords cash in
Sydney Morning Herald - Cosima Marriner - April 28, 2013Hundreds of Sydney families could be forced to find alternative childcare with up to a dozen centres at risk of closing as landlords seek to capitalise on valuable property. The not-for-profit KU Children's Services has already notified families that its centres in Ultimo, the central business...
Childcare fees set to skyrocket
The Daily Telegraph - Gemma Jones - April 27, 2013STRUGGLING Sydney families face losing family day care places or copping fee hikes next year because of government-imposed ratios, a leading community services provider says. Hundreds of children will have to leave Mission Australia co-ordinated places - and operators in western...
Investing in childcare is not for children
Financial Review - Duncan Hughes - April 27, 2013The high-profile collapse of flamboyant Eddy Groves's ABC Learning, which controlled about 1200 centres nationwide, demonstrated that a business involving children is not child's play. But today’s investors are discovering childcare centre leaseholds – the property, not the business – can offer...
'Unsuitable' childcare students dropping out
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - April 26, 2013CHILDCARE courses are experiencing huge drop-out rates because they are enrolling students who are "unsuitable" and find the work "more challenging than they had expected" when they undertake work experience in a centre. The National Centre for Vocational Education Research has...
Paid parental leave will be a burden on businesses and achieve little
The Australian - Adam Creighton - April 26, 2013THE federal opposition is right to promise to dump the $1.2 billion Schoolkids Bonus -- a blatant and wasteful political bribe bereft of any didactic impact -- if it wins government. But at least it doesn't encourage Australians to lie, burden businesses with uncertainty and foster discrimination against...
Tiny little Stalins in childcare politburo
The Daily Telegraph - Sarrah Le Marquand - April 25, 2013MEASURING in at an average height of well over 160cm, you'd think the grown-ups of Australia would be big enough to fight their own battles. So why keep dragging children into our political showdowns? Pint-sized citizens - still several years away from being considered mature enough...
Nannies win from childcare shortage
Sydney Morning Herald - Cosima Marriner - April 21, 2013One in five NSW parents has to wait more than a year for a childcare place, prompting more parents to hire nannies when they return to work. A new national childcare survey found 16 per cent of NSW parents now employ nannies, compared with 10 per cent a year ago. The annual...
ABC2 daytime the nation's 'babysitter'
The Australian - Michael Bodey - April 22, 2013ABC3 may be the designated children's channel for the public broadcaster but ABC2 has firmly established its position as the country's daycare provider. The ABC's major multichannel is the dominant digital channel during the daytime and during Tuesday last week the channel had 18...
Kids used in pay push by union at Sydney childcare centre
The Sunday Telegraph - Simon Benson - April 21, 2013CHILDREN as young as three have been recruited to a union campaign run through a Sydney childcare centre demanding better wages for poorly paid early childhood teachers. Despite not being old enough to read or write, about 40 children have been used by teachers at Summer Hill...
Working mothers still plagued by guilt
Sydney Morning Herald - Cosima Marriner - April 21, 2013Guilt is the hardest part about returning to work after maternity leave for one in three mothers and the feeling is made worse by critical employers, colleagues and stay-at-home mothers. Working mothers often feel judged as not doing the right thing by their child or their employer, the...
Australian male breadwinner flourishing
Sydney Morning Herald - Matt Wade - April 21, 2013The high cost and lack of easy access to childcare has helped to preserve Australia's male breadwinners. Patricia Apps, professor in public economics at the University of Sydney, argues that if childcare worked more like the school system, women's workforce participation would surge...
School-care demand soars
The Australian - Patricia Karvelas - April 20, 2013THE number of children in before and after-school childcare has gone through the roof in the past three years, increasing faster than all other options. However, the sector is not entitled to any of the $300 million boost from the federal government to cover wage increases. The Weekend...
PM fails to reach deal with states on Gonski reforms
Sydney Morning Herald - Daniel Hurst and Mark Kenny - April 19, 2013Agreement on early childhood education. COAG agreed to extend national partnership funding for early childhood education, following concerns raised by several premiers over the potential loss of kindergarten funding. According to the official statement, COAG agreed to a new National...
