Education ministers from around Australia to consider tougher laws for childcare centre operators
Mums and dads could gain the right to know about every serious safety breach at their child's daycare, as the nation’s education ministers consider major reforms to protect kids.
Childcare operators would have to tell parents about serious incidents at centres, such as if a child goes missing, under tougher laws to be considered by education ministers.
It could also become an offence for operators to mislead parents or give false accounts and the sector watchdog could gain the power to suspend or revoke a centre’s quality rating if a serious incident occurs.
South Australian Education Minister Blair Boyer will put the proposals to a national meeting of education ministers on Friday, in the wake of shocking incidents at centres reported across the country.
“Transparency is incredibly important to me, which is why parents need to know if there are issues when they arise and there should be harsher penalties for centres when there is a serious incident,” Mr Boyer said.
“The majority of childcare centres and their staff absolutely do the right thing, but I am putting on notice any provider that thinks they can get away with poor quality.”
Currently, centre operators are only required to inform parents if the watchdog imposes certain conditions on a centre.
Under the proposed changes they could have to tell parents about any incidents that prompt the watchdog to take action, such as clearing obstacles, reviewing policies or increasing staff numbers.
In a recent example, the Edge Early Learning centre in Royal Park, in Adelaide’s western suburbs, was ordered to conduct headcounts every 15 minutes after children were left unsupervised “for a short time” in September.
However, they were not required to inform parents of children who were not involved.
All 24 Edge centres in SA are under a year-long improvement program, following a series of reported issues – not all of which were declared to the parent community.
Edge has said parents of children involved in incidents are notified and the company treats “any concern about a child’s safety with the utmost seriousness”.
Nationally in 2023-24, there were 148 serious incidents recorded per 100 approved childcare services, up from 134 in 2022-23.
These can include a child going missing or being locked in or out of a centre, or police or other emergency services being called.
In SA, the Education Standards Board (ESB) inspects centres, monitors compliance and gives ratings against national standards for safety, teaching, infrastructure and more, which are published online.
However, resourcing means centres can go years between inspections to update their rating.
Mr Boyer is proposing that state regulators, like the ESB, be given the power to suspend or revoke ratings following a serious incident or non-compliance.
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Originally published as Education ministers from around Australia to consider tougher laws for childcare centre operators
