77 per cent of childcare workers operating below safety requirements, union survey finds

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4 days ago

More concerns have been raised about safety at childcare centres, with three-quarters of workers telling a survey their place of work was operating below minimum staffing levels at least weekly.
The United Workers Union survey of 2,100 childcare workers also found that 42 per cent of workers said their centre was operating below minimum staffing levels on a daily basis.
The findings come after the charging of a Melbourne childcare worker with more than 70 offences, including sexual assault, and a long-running ABC investigation revealed examples of profit being placed above care.
"While examining the tragic events revealed in Melbourne last week, we also need to understand the alarm that is being sounded by educators," UWU early education director Carolyn Smith said.
"Workers report children are left without emotional support, without adequate supervision to stop them hurting themselves or others, and without appropriate education."
The union survey was conducted before the Melbourne childcare worker was charged.
"I can't even guarantee the safety of the children and myself. I feel sad, unsafe and stressful every day," a Victorian worker told the survey.
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The for-profit operyators that dominate the childcare sector pay staff less and rely more on casual workers, an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation in 2023 found.
"Partly because of understaffing, we see a real churn of staff moving through centres, and that's when we don't have that safe, quality environment we need," Ms Smith said.
The issues highlighted in the ABC investigation echo the UWU survey, which revealed the top four concerns of educators.
Preeti Soodan, a Melbourne educator at a large for-profit provider, told ABC News childcare workers had too many demands placed on them, including cleaning and administration.
"There are many challenges we face during the day. We keep changing the hats; we are educators, we are leaders, we are supervising the children, we have many responsibilities with documentation," Ms Soodan said.
"We don't only educate them, we have to wipe the tables, clean them, support them emotionally. Throughout our day, we are always juggling."
Ms Soodan is a trained primary school teacher with more than a decade's experience working in Australia and India.
She said workers were treated as "glorified babysitters" rather than educators.
"The neuroscience tells us that 90 per cent of the brain develops till the age of five, so you can understand how precious this profession is," Ms Soodan said.
The UWU survey revealed 83 per cent of workers agreed a common staffing loophole called the "under the roof" ratio was used by centres and compromised the wellbeing of children.
Ratios are designed to ensure a minimum of staff are present at all times to supervise children but the numbers of workers required in each room varies according to the age of the children.
Some staff count all workers "under the roof" rather than numbers in individual rooms required under the National Quality Framework (NQF) and state-based regulators.
"Educators tell us that what was supposed to be a commonsense stopgap for changes that occur at centres through the day, has become an overused staffing loophole, entrenching educators regularly working below minimum staffing requirements in their rooms," Ms Smith said.
Even where ratios were being met, staff reported an increase in children with additional needs meant safety was still being compromised.
"We always work with the correct ratio, but the increase of children with higher needs is making current ratios completely inappropriate," a New South Wales educator told the union survey.
Federal Minister for Early Childhood Education Senator Jess Walsh said the survey results were "very concerning".
"Providers must meet minimum staffing levels to provide safe, quality early education and care," she said.
"We will work with educators and their union to address the concerns raised in this survey."
The minister said the government last year agreed to spend $3.6 billion to give childcare workers a pay rise and job vacancies were falling in the sector.
The Australian Childcare Alliance, a lobby group representing for-profit providers, said its members had been working with government to improve attraction and retention of workers.
"We are unable to comment on a survey with no oversight of the detail included in the data," a spokesperson said.
"The sector is rightfully expected to comply with the regulations and National Quality Framework at all times. This is non-negotiable."