SA Education Department reveals 230 incidents, injuries at out of school hours care centres

Hundreds of shocking incidents have been uncovered at out of school hours care centres, including children smuggling in alcohol or being left behind on excursions.

A child who brought alcohol in their school bag, another who fell off a change table and a student taken on excursion without permission are among incidents recorded at South Australian out of school hours care centres.

Violence, runaway or missing children and injuries or illness accounted for most of the 228 critical incidents reported last year.

Education Minister Blair Boyer has conceded that the OSHC system requires “lifting quality across-the-board” and has given the Education Standards Board an extra $7m for increased monitoring.

This had enabled “a crackdown into those services that aren’t performing as well to ensure safety for all students”, he said.

About 29,000 children aged five to 12 use OSHC each week, representing one in six of the state’s primary school-aged students.

Data released by the Education Department under Freedom of Information laws reveals there were eight cases of alleged serious misconduct by OSHC staff at public school sites in 2023, including allegations of negligence, inappropriate behaviour and breaching confidentiality.

Another seven alleged staff misconduct cases, including drug or alcohol use, were deemed minor.

There were 14 reports of concerning sexual behaviour by students, two intruders and one arrest of a parent or carer.

Detailed reports of incidents in the past two years include a child in each case:

BRINGING alcohol to the OSHC centre in their bag and sharing with others.

LEFT behind at an excursion to a bowling centre.

LEFT in a room for up to 20 minutes while other students attended an excursion.

TAKEN on an excursion without parental permission.

FALLING off a 1m high change table while staff were distracted.

PUMPING hand sanitiser into their mouth.

There are also a number of OSHC sites on notice with the sector watchdog for issues including breaching policies, inadequate supervision and understaffing.

Education Minister Blair Boyer. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

Opposition education spokesman John Gardner. Picture: Matt Loxton

Opposition education spokesman John Gardner said he knew OSHC centres were struggling to recruit and keep enough skilled staff.

“When you have difficult and problematic behaviours in an OSHC environment if staff are inexperienced then it puts them under an enormous amount of pressure,” he said.

OSHC centre directors must hold at least a Diploma-level qualification in education and care.

Mr Boyer told The Advertiser that the government had changed the requirements on other centre staff in a bid to make it easier to recruit.

Workers will now be eligible if they hold a Certificate III or IV in education, care or disability.

The government is also offering a new qualification, Certificate III in Outside School Hours Care, as part of its fee-free TAFE program.

Mr Boyer said many families with both parents in paid work relied on OSHC services.

“OSHC needs to be more accessible for families, it needs to be more inclusive for those with students with complex needs and it needs to be of the highest quality,” he said.

OSHC services were examined as part of a royal commission into SA’s early childhood education and care system, held last year by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

About 200 OSHC staff have since received training to reinforce “what they need to be reporting and why”.

It is understood that latest data shows a more than 60 per cent drop in the number of children reported missing or unaccounted for at OSHC services so far this financial year.