National childcare register among five changes coming to early learning sector within months
Education Minister Jason Clare is fully supporting five of the recommendations made in Victoria’s child safety review, with a national childcare worker register and CCTV trials to be rolled out within months.
Education Minister Jason Clare has put his full support behind five of the recommendations made in Victoria’s rapid child safety review, with work on some of the reforms to begin immediately.
Following a special purpose Education Ministers Meeting on Friday, Mr Clare announced a national childcare educator register, mandatory childcare training and the assessment of CCTV in centres were among the reforms all education leaders agreed on being rolled out in the coming months.
Providing more information for parents on childcare centre breaches and safety standards as well as more frequent, random spot checks were the other agreed changes that would come to the sector.
All of these reforms were among the 22 recommendations made by former South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill and veteran bureaucrat Pamela White following their rapid review into child safety, which was commissioned by the Victorian government and publicly released on Wednesday.
Rather than accelerating the national early childhood worker register as per the advice in the review, Mr Clare went a step further and confirmed work on a national register would begin immediately and would be “developed from scratch”.
“It will require changes to the national law and legislation and we will pilot a trial in December this year, with that to be rolled out from February next year,” he said.
Another recommendation was mandatory child safety training, which Mr Clare said would be developed by the Australian Center for Child Protection and would be rolled out from next year.
Meanwhile, a trial of CCTV across 300 centres will commence in either October or November this year, and will be funded as part of a $189m extra investment from the Commonwealth government.
The previously announced ban to mobile phones in centres will come into effect in September, along with active enforcement by state and territory regulators and an extra 1600 spot visits by the Federal Department of Education.
Parents will also be able to access more information on the Starting Blocks website from September, which will include enforcement action and breaches that occurred at a childcare centre.
“Is it everything we need to do? No of course it is not but it is the next thing we must do and we have agreed to do today,” Mr Clare said.
Victoria’s Children’s Minister Lizzie Blandthorn, who attended the meeting, said in total 10 recommendations from the state’s urgent review had been agreed to “either in full or in part” by the country’s education leaders.
“In Victoria, when we learned of the sickening and evil circumstances, many weeks ago now, we took immediate action to ban devices from the end of September in early education and care settings and we took immediate action to set up a register,” she said.
“We are really pleased today to be part of a national conversation where we are now talking about the banning of devices across the country and we are also talking about the establishment of a national register.”
Ms Blandthorn acknowledged there was still “more work to do” and said she looked forward to “continuing this important work in the coming weeks, months and years”.
“We know education and care is important, but are greatest responsibility is for the safety of children and I think the collective work of my colleagues here today will help us deliver that,” she said.
The ministers are set to meet again in October to continue their work on reforms to the state’s childcare sector.
Experts weigh in
Experts and childcare groups were eager to weigh in on the reforms within hours of Mr Clare’s announcement.
Australian Catholic University Institute of Child Protection Studies Director Professor Daryl Higgins said it was “heartening” to see the recognition of broken trust that parents and caregivers experienced following recent incidents in childcare centres, particularly in Victoria.
“This has been a horrific period in the state’s early childhood education and care system, and I hope that we can move to a place of healing and recognition that child safety — not affordability — needs to be the priority when it comes to the design and function of our systems of early childhood care and education,” he said.
Professor Higgins welcomed the national educator register and mandatory safety training and said well trained and well supported childhood education and care workers were the best defence against inappropriate behaviours towards children.
On the other hand, he said the rollout of CCTV was “not a silver bullet” and was pleased to see it was being trialled rather than being rushed out.
“Child safeguarding goes beyond borders. It’s good to see commitment today among the nation’s education ministers of greater collaboration between the states and territories and the Commonwealth to ensure all children, wherever they live, wherever they attend childcare or school, are safe,” he said.
“I welcome the Federal Education Minister Jason Clare’s recognition that there is more to be done and that we need to remain vigilant.”
The United Workers Union also broadly welcomed the moves at state and federal levels to make the childcare sector safer for children, but said today’s announcement fell short of addressing understaffing.
“They see understaffing as a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed in any reforms to the sector,” the union’s early education director Carolyn Smith said.
Ms Smith said there were also concerns around CCTV in centres, particularly regarding the costs associated with it and the risks of it impacting staff decisions.
“It is great news that Education Ministers have asked the Early Childhood Regulator to examine ratios, which should include examining a staffing loophole used by providers called the ‘under the roof’ ratio,” she said.
“This loophole needs to be closed to address very real concerns about children’s wellbeing and safety.”
Parent advocacy group The Parenthood said the federal government’s $189m funding package was an important step in keeping young children safe while lifting the quality of care.
“A national register of educators and greater transparency for parents will allow families to have greater confidence in a system most rely on in order to work and meet the cost of living, while also setting their children up to thrive through access to quality play-based learning,” The Parenthood chief executive Georgie Dent said.
“Educators are the first line of defence for noticing when something is off and speaking up, so mandatory child-safe training will help support and empower educators with the skills and knowledge to keep children safe.”
Early Learning Association Australia (ELAA) chief Dr Karina Davis said it was “heartening” to see the government wanted to bring change, but added a “deep investment in the workforce” was needed to help drive the reforms.
“We know that the majority of the workforce is made up of people who are deeply committed to their professions and the children they care for,” she said.
“This is a workforce stretched to its limit, and we must support them to implement changes in a safe and sustainable way that ensures changes happen where they need to.”
Politicians respond
Federal opposition spokesman for education Jonno Duniam said the reforms were a step in the right direction, but the real test was whether everything promised would be implemented.
“We will hold all governments to account on their commitments today. That includes the February deadline for a national register of early education workers that the Coalition has been calling for,” he said.
“Parents will not forgive anyone for any delays or bureaucratic excuses. The states and territories cannot resort back to the old, fragmented approach that has clearly not worked.
“They must embrace reforms and put their words into action by helping create a truly consistent national register, enforce penalties for noncompliance regarding personal phone bans, and a nationally consistent Working with Children Check.”
Meanwhile, state opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said until Victoria’s Working With Children Check system and the state’s childcare watchdog were fixed, Victorian children remained at risk.
“These national reforms are an important step forward but do not negate the need for urgent changes to keep children safe here in Victoria,” she said.
“The Victorian Liberals and Nationals remain committed to working constructively with the Government and parliament to ensure the safety of children in educational settings is our priority.”
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Originally published as National childcare register among five changes coming to early learning sector within months
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