Childcare unions push back on CCTV surveillance in daycare centres
Forcing childcare workers to wear body cameras is ‘over the top’, unions have insisted, as governments seek to mandate surveillance to prevent abuse.
Forcing childcare workers to wear body cameras is “over the top’’, unions have insisted, as governments seek to mandate surveillance to prevent abuse.
In the wake of allegations that a Melbourne childcare worker filming his sexual abuse of babies, education ministers will meet next month to discuss the mandatory use of CCTV cameras, which are already being rolled out by the nation’s biggest childcare chain, Goodstart Early Learning.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said that “if there’s somebody that’s potentially up to no good, they know the camera’s there so it means it’s less likely they’re going to act’’.
“They have to be in the right places. If deterrence is going to work, how you set them up is just as critical as whether you’ve got them there at all,’’ he said.
Independent Education Union NSW/ACT secretary Carol Matthews questioned the use of CCTV, especially in bathrooms and nappy change areas where they are now banned.
“We don’t think CCTV is the answer … it’s important that you deal with the staff culture as a preventative measure,’’ she said.
“Rather than catching people after the fact, we think it’s preferable to build an environment in which those incidents don’t happen in the first place.’’
Ms Matthews said she was opposed the use of body cameras, a proposal made during a NSW parliamentary inquiry into safety in early childhood education.
“I think that’s over the top,’’ she said. “We do support the recommendation to get rid of personal mobile phone use in childcare centres, not just for child protection reasons but also because there’s a growing demand by parents for regular updates about what their children are doing during the day, which involves taking photos, which distracts staff from caring for children. If you’re taking photos of children all the time you’re not really caring for them.’’
The call for body cameras was made by Tashu Singh, the parent of a toddler with disabilities, who said all childcare workers should be required to wear them to “ensure accountability’’.
“Mandate that body camera footage is monitored by the centre manager after each shift to identify and address any issues or breaches of safety,’’ the parliamentary submission states. “Make the body camera footage available to parents upon request, allowing them to review their child’s interactions with staff and address any issues of breaches of safety.”
United Workers Union early education director Carolyn Smith also ruled out the use of body cameras, which are being widely used in the retail sector.
She said CCTV created “significant issues of privacy’’. “Where is the CCTV stored and how do we make sure that it’s secure?’’ she said. “There’s a lot of kids who run into the room and take their clothes off – what do we do about the CCTV?’’
Ms Smith called for a ban on agency workers filling in for sick or absent childcare staff. “It’s not a factory, it’s not a shop – these are children,’’ she said. “Obviously we need to have a way to cover staff who are on leave or sick, but that can be done with trusted groups of casuals who work across a number of centres, who are known and regularly work in those centres.
“When you have a workforce that has an incredibly high turnover, very casualised, with high use of agency staff – and the educators quite often don’t know the person they’re working alongside, that can never be a safe situation for children.’’
Ms Smith said childcare staff needed better training in mandatory reporting of suspected abuse.
Ms Matthews, whose IEU represents degree-qualified early childhood teachers working in preschools and daycare centres, called for “safer systems for staff to report concerns quickly without fear of repercussions’’. “Our members have advised that they sometimes feel unsupported by their employer if the wish to make a notification,’’ she said.
She said governments must improve the quality of childcare training “by getting rid of shonky training organisations issuing substandard qualifications’’.
“In schools, everyone is trained in child protection and reportable conduct – it’s just mandatory and there is annual compliance training – but in early childhood services that is not required,’’ she said. “It needs to be imprinted in people’s brains that this is how you operate.’’
The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership told the NSW inquiry that childcare staff needed to be registered in the same way as school teachers. “Under a registration system, there would be a central list of all educators as well as early childhood teachers, that includes information (about) their qualifications and employment, as well as details about possible misconduct and their current working with children checks,’’ it said.
Federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has written to her state counterparts seeking a national working-with-children register, but has not released details of the extent of convictions or charges to be disclosed.
Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington revealed on Friday that she had raised the issue at the Standing Council of Attorneys-General six months ago. She called for the national register to include convictions, charges and spent convictions for violent crimes, as well as domestic violence information and child safety reports. “The protection of children knows no borders,’’ she said. “We cannot stand by as monsters take advantage of any weaknesses in our systems.’’
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