Childcare staffing crisis needs to be addressed

2nd August 2002

From: UnitingCare Australia

Childcare staffing needs to be urgently addressed! Representatives from UnitingCare childcare centres around the nation met recently and said that the system is on the brink of a major crisis.

Newspaper advertisements in major city newspaper hardly attract qualified applicants, if at all. Pay and conditions are cited as some of the major reasons for the problems in attracting qualified staff.

“In the end it is children who will suffer from minimum quality care,” said Lin Hatfield Dodds, National Director of UnitingCare Australia. “Surely its time to ensure that our childcare staff are valued – that we can attract and retain quality staff to work with our children.”

“The standing of industry is very low. People think of childcare as organised baby-sitting, rather than quality early childhood development. Many reports, including the Government’s own Commonwealth Child Care Advisory Council, have shown that the industry’s public image needs to be addressed urgently.”

“All levels of government must stop using child care as a political football and begin to accept responsibility for creating a quality childcare system.”

“With an overwhelming body of research showing the critical importance of the early years of child development, isn’t it time that the industry working with these children gains the recognition that it deserves?” asked Ms Hatfield Dodds.

Contacts:
Lin Hatfield Dodds, National Director, UnitingCare Australia: 0408 402 222
Jennifer Evans, Director UnitingCare Children’s Services Forum NSW: 0417 478 117

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