Tag: issues in childcare

Apparently 18 years as an early childhood teacher and provider still isn’t enough to make me unshockable. Alleged paedophilia? Bodily fluids in children’s food? Naturally, it’s horrific and traumatic for the families involved — but you can count on the government to deliver a good knee-jerk reaction. So that’ll be more risk assessments, more paperwork, more something — anything except actually fixing the real problem.

And the government is great at delegating blame. Out comes the big stick to smack the regulators — problem solved — plus a few shiny PDF “safety info sheets” for parents. That’ll fix everything, right?

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Who’s Opening These Centres Anyway?

You’d almost think someone up in the hierarchy might pause and wonder if letting people with zero early childhood experience open massive childcare centres was ever a clever idea.

Or maybe — wild thought — stop approving thousands of new services every year when there aren’t even enough qualified educators to legally cover the ratios we already have.

But hey, who cares about details? Just plug the holes with temps from agencies who wouldn’t know the regs if you stapled them to their payslip. Problem solved!

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The Big Audit — Fluff First, Safety Maybe

Meanwhile, when the regulators roll in for their big “Assessment and Rating” audit, do they look at whether children are actually safe? Not really. They assume they are, and then focus on the truly critical stuff — like whether children are pouring their own water, whether multicultural boxes are ticked, or if there’s a reconciliation plan lurking online somewhere alongside a bunch or sleep risk assessments!

And heaven forbid someone spots a stencil in the art cupboard — better fail Quality Area 1!

Meanwhile, the educators? They’re too busy drowning in paperwork — critical reflections and observations; linking sandpit moments to the approved framework, recording toileting, nappy changes and how much food and drink was consumed. Plus writing various reports to prove they did what they did, taking photos for parents— all while needing eyes in the back of their head to supervise. Imagine if they could actually just sit and be with the children. Wild concept, I know.

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Quality Area 2? Never Heard of Her.

Health and Safety? Oh please — you can be rated “Exceeding” without actually exceeding in health and safety. Not a problem — the self-assessment looks fabulous!

To achieve an Exceeding rating under the National Quality Standard (NQS), a service only has to go above and beyond in at least four quality areas — and at least two of those must be from Quality Areas 1, 5, 6, or 7. Quality Area 2? Not even on the list. Not a typo.

And now, to top it off, the National Model Code for Early Childhood Education and Care is floating the brilliant idea of restricting CCTV cameras inside services. Because nothing says “trust” like fewer eyes on the place. Not anymore!

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Here’s a Radical Thought

Maybe we hire people who actually care. Maybe we put more early childhood degree-trained teachers in each service — you know, the ones who spent four years and tens of thousands of dollars to do this work properly because they actually want to.

Smaller services, smaller groups, people who know each other and actually talk every day — outrageous, right?

But no, let’s keep approving warehouse-sized services with 300 places and 100 strangers in name badges. Who’s that new face? Temp? Permanent? Who knows — maybe they’ll stick around till Friday.

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Want Better? Try Checking the Basics.

If the Department really wants to look tough, maybe only approve providers who have early childhood qualifications — not just the clowns asking in Facebook groups how to open a centre, like it’s as easy as setting up a corner lollie shop.

And when the Department of Education comes out for A & R, maybe spend more than two seconds on whether children are actually safe — and a bit less on whether Johnny can pour his own water into a compostable cup.

https://kasielosurdo.substack.com/p/just-when-you-thought-it-was-safe?r=1veqa7