Issue 77, Autumn 2006 Rattler - Community Early Learning ... · Disclaimer The opinions expressed in Rattler are those ... Perhaps the merry monarch was the predecessor to the king

RattlerCommunity Child Care Co-opIssue 77, Autumn 2006

Registered by Australia Post

Print Post Publication No. 255003/04732

LOOKING

aheadWHERE TO FOR CHILDCARE?

EQUITY PAY WINFLYING THE FLAGGROWING UP IN AUSTRALIA PLUS MORE…

2 ■ RATTLER 77 | AUTUMN 2006

A message from the

CEO

Many things have happened in the children’s services sector since our last edition of Rattler. The long-awaited Pay Equity decision recognised the difficult working conditions of many childcare workers, and awarded substantial pay increases over two years. Community Child Care was highly supportive of the LHMU’s campaign and the decision will boost the morale of childcare workers (and their pay packets!).

Childcare has featured in the media recently, with some politicians calling for a complete overhaul of childcare funding arrangements. While debating the issues keeps the spotlight on childcare, it is important that the many ideas floating around are properly assessed and scrutinised. In this edition of Rattler, we provide an update on the political issues in childcare, and analyse the three new proposals by the ALP, ACOSS and the ACTU.

Along with these current political issues, we also provide our regular feature articles. As pictured on our front cover, a child-centred approach to childcare is part of many Indigenous cultures around the world, as demonstrated by the Aboriginal Child Rearing Strategy, a fascinating program operating in the Central Desert—an integral part of keeping local culture strong and vibrant.

Advocates in early childhood education and care are an important part of our community. The 2005 Sydney Peace Prize was awarded to Olara Otunnu, United Nations Under Secretary General for the protection of Children in Armed Conflict. We publish an extract from his paper, as well as an enlightening speech by the Commissioner for Children and Young People, Gillian Calvert, looking at key issues that will influence children in the 21st century.

We finish off this edition with a report on some early findings from the longitudinal study of 10,000 Australian children and their families accessing childcare. This is of great interest to all childcare workers as the study has the potential to identify childcare as a strong and positive influence on children’s development.

We have enjoyed putting this edition of Rattler together for you and we hope that you enjoy your reading.

Carol LymberyChief Executive Officer

Community Child Care Co-operative Ltd. (NSW)

Community Child Care

Co-operativeLtd. (NSW)

Rattler is published quarterly by Community

Child Care Co-operative Ltd. (NSW) and funded

by the NSW Department of Community Services,

by subscriptions and advertising revenue.

CEO, Community Child Care

Carol Lymbery

Editorial Committee

Gayle Biddle, Lisa Bryant, Eddy Jokovich,

Carol Lymbery, Katie Sutherland, Liz Willis

Managing Editor

Eddy Jokovich (02) 9280 4150

Journalists

Katie Sutherland, Liz Willis

Art Director

Deborah Kelly

Design and production

ARMEDIA

Printing

Lane Printing

List of Contributors

Lisa Bryant, Gillian Calvert, Dr Linda Harrison,

Katie Sutherland, Liz Willis

Contributions

By publishing a range of opinions, Community

Child Care Co-operative Ltd. (NSW) hopes

to stimulate professional development and

discussion. You can contact the CEO or Managing

Editor to discuss your ideas or send in an outline

of your article. Copyright is normally held jointly

by the publisher and the author. We reserve the

right to shorten/edit submitted material.

Photocopying

Please email for permission to photocopy or

reproduce any article or part thereof.

Subscriptions (02) 9560 4771

Annual subscription to Rattler $48.00 (inc. GST)

(4 issues).

Advertising (02) 9280 4150


accepts no responsibility for misleading or

inaccurate advertisements. We reserve the right

to refuse any advertisement that contravenes

the organisation’s objectives or the Advertising

Code of Ethics. Advertisers have responsibility

for all information and any claims made in their

advertising. Various sizes of advertisements

are available. Contact the Managing Editor for

further information.

Office and Postal Address

Addison Road Community Centre,

Hut 6, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville NSW 2204

Phone (02) 9560 4771

Fax (02) 9560 4781

Email [email protected]

Website www.ccccnsw.org.au

ABN 81 174 903 921

Community Child Care gratefully acknowledges

the support of Microsoft Corporation in providing

Community Child Care with free software under

their Community Assistance Initiative.

Registered by Australia Post

Print Post Publication No 255003/04732

ISSN 0819-9132

©2006 Community Child Care Co-operative Ltd.

(NSW)

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in Rattler are those

of the authors and not necessarily those of

Community Child Care Co-operative Ltd. (NSW).

■ EDITORIAL

RATTLER 77 | AUTUMN 2006 ■ 3

Contents RATTLER 77, AUTUMN 2006 ■

On the cover:

Child's play at Lytentye Apurte (Santa Teresa

Community) 80 kilometres east of Alice

Springs. Photograph: Leanne Maloney, Waltja

Tjutangku Palyapayi Aboriginal Corporation.

4 THE LOWDOWN

A roundup of what’s on, what’s up and who’s where.

5 CLOSE UP

We profile Sue Kingwill, coordinator of Contact.

7 THE SYDNEY PEACE PRIZE: WARCHILD

Olara Otunnu is a passionate advocate for children caught in wars’ cross-fire.

8 EQUITY WIN

NSW childcare workers finally get their long-awaited pay increase.

11 WHERE TO NOW? LOOKING AHEAD

Lisa Bryant weighs up three new proposals to solve the childcare crisis.

14 21C CHILDHOOD

Gillian Calvert, Commissioner for Children and Young People identifies five key issues for children.

16 FLYING THE FLAG

Movement afoot in the halls of power. Liz Willis analyses the shifting fortunes of childcare as a national priority.

20 NOT JUST A CHILDCARE CENTRE

Waitara Children’s Services combines a range of related services into a rich community resource.

24 FROM WALTJA TO THE WORLD

A childcare program from Central Desert communities is being lauded internationally.

26 GROWING UP IN AUSTRALIA

A long-term national study is shedding light on early childhood education.

30 BOOKWORM

A sneak preview of what’s new on the shelves.

2005 Bell Award, Australian Business and

Specialist Publishers Association.

Winner: Best Business-to-Business Magazine Graphic Design.

Highly Commended: Best Business-to-Business

magazine cover

PAY EQUITY: HISTORIC WIN 8

CENTRE PROFILE: WAITARA 20

WHERE TO NOW? LOOKING AHEAD 11

■ THE LOWDOWN

DID YOU KNOW?

KING OF SWING

Old King Cole Was a merry old soul,And a merry old soul was he;He called for his pipe,And he called for his bowl,And he called for his fiddlers three

So who was this jolly man of mystery? No-one is really sure, but rumour

has it he was a popular king who ruled Britain in the third century. He

loved music and didn’t have to rely solely on a fiddling trio for merriment,

because his daughter was said to have the most beautiful singing voice in

the land. Perhaps the merry monarch was the predecessor to the king of

big band swing, Nat ‘King’ Cole. Parallels have been drawn, as his famous

daughter Natalie is also known for holding a tune.

A roundup of what’s on, what’s up, who’s where in the world of childcare.

snapshot

get it off your chest


■ The annual report from the Australian

Institute of Health and Welfare for 2005

indicated housing and childcare as the two

biggest financial strains on families.

■ ABC Learning is looking for new

acquisitions in the USA after buying its

third largest childcare operator, Learning

Care Group Inc. in November last year. ABC

Learning Chief Executive, Eddy Groves, said

the company was moving into the North

American market as there was only limited

scope left for acquisitions in Australia.

■ As a part of her political push on childcare,

Federal Coalition MP, Jackie Kelly, has

threatened to vote against any further

spending on Parliament House unless a

childcare centre is built there. ‘Let’s provide

a role model for the workplaces of Australia

in supporting work-family choices,’ she said.

See story on page 16.

■ A Canadian economics professor claimed

his research on hundreds of Canadian

childcare centres showed that non-profit

services deliver better outcomes for

children. He said the difference was staff

motivation and effort more so than child–

staff ratios or class sizes.

■ The ALP’s Shadow Minister for Childcare,

Tanya Plibersek, has called for networked

databases to replace the current waiting

list system in long day care centres.

‘A consolidated waiting list in a local

government area, like one currently being

trialled in councils in Victoria, would

be fairer and give a truer picture of the

demand for childcare,’ she said.

Keeping you in the loop with a review of the past three months…

If you have something to say about Rattler

or the childcare sector, please email

letters to: [email protected]

Contributors to Rattler are always

welcome too. We seek articles on social,

economic, educational and political issues

that affect the childcare industry. Check

out the information for writers at

www.ccccnsw.org.au/rattler/

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Old Families, New BeginningsAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Perinatal and Infant Mental Health

Conference

May 4–6, 2006

Novotel, Sydney Olympic Park

Info: [email protected]

or (02) 9680 9311

2006 National Family Day Care ConferenceMessages from the Heart

May 17–20, 2006

Alice Springs Convention Centre

Info: www.fdc2006.com.au/dates.php

NSW CCSA Conference Quality and Sustainability:

Creating the Balance

June 16–18, 2006

Twin Town Services Club, Tweed Heads

Info: www.ccsa-nsw.asn.au or (02) 4782 1470

ECTA Annual ConferenceEffective Early Childhood Curriculum and

Teaching: Staying True to Our Principles

June 24, 2006

John Paul College, Daisy Hill, Brisbane

Info: www.ecta.org.au or (07) 3211 4260

NACBCS ConferenceOur Community—Our Children

July 14–15, 2006

Wollongong University, Building 20

Info: [email protected]

or (02) 4227 7158

The 5th Australian and New Zealand Adolescent Health ConferenceYoung People’s Health:

What’s it Going to Take?

November 13–15, 2006, Sydney

Info: www.youthhealth2006.org

(02) 4572 3079

World Forum on Early Care and EducationMay 15–18, 2007

Shangri La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Info: http://ccie.com/wf/wf2007

ECA 2007 National ConferenceChildren: A Nation’s Capital—

Investing in our Children

July 5–8, 2007, Canberra

Info: www.ecaconference.com.au

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

what’s on

WHAT’S THE GREATEST MISCONCEPTION PEOPLE HAVE ABOUT THE NEEDS OF ISOLATED CHILDREN AND FAMILIES? Many people assume isolation is about rural and remote localities but

people can be isolated anywhere and it's particularly challenging when

there is a baby or children to care for. Also, people assume that technology

and services are the solution but, often, people may not know they need

particular services or information, or how to find them, or what questions

to ask. To effectively reach isolated people requires multiple approaches

and there is no one magic solution.

HOW HAVE THE CHALLENGES FOR ISOLATED FAMILIES CHANGED IN YOUR TIME AT CONTACT?I feel the challenges for isolated families haven’t really changed, however,

there are now far more services and programs.The real challenge is to

find the best way to reach people and assist, how and when required.

CONTACT VISITS 80–100 RURAL COMMUNITIES A YEAR. HOW DO YOU COPE WITH THE TRAVEL? Travelling is the great bonus of my work, as I get to meet people and stay

in touch and it is essential that I get out regularly. But I don’t travel all the

time, because of the other demands of my job. Sometimes, we may be

offered a spare seat on the Rural Aerial Health Service planes for day trips

but mostly we travel by car and this means we can take materials and

people with us. I use travel time to think over ideas, as I’m away from the

day-to-day happenings in the office.

WHAT’S THE GREATEST SATISFACTION IN A JOB LIKE THIS? There are many satisfying things that happen in my job and every day

is different with many opportunities to be involved and creative. It is a

privilege to spend time in the community and to work with specialised

professionals, to be part of the development of new programs and services

and to build on the strengths of individuals, families and communities.

DO YOU HAVE A MOTTO THAT GUIDES YOU IN LIFE OR WORK? I believe in giving that little bit more and doing the best that I can. I hope

that I never let a good opportunity pass by if it means fulfilling whatever

we have set out to achieve. Loyalty and commitment is important to me as

is appreciating people’s ideas, suggestions and friendships.

HOW DO YOU RELAX?I am probably not a good example to ask about relaxing! I treasure being

with family and friends; I like going to the pictures and to the theatre and I

also like just being at home cooking and gardening.

If you have an event relevant to the childcare

sector that you’d like to see publicised in

Rattler, please email: [email protected]

Sue Kingwill has worked

with the Contact program for

isolated children, families and

communities since 1987 and been

its coordinator since 1994.

close

up



■ THE LOWDOWN

Community

Childcare is proud

to announce that

Rattler has won the

prestigious 2005

Bell Award for the

‘Best B2B Magazine

Graphic Design’,

awarded by the

Australian Business

and Specialist

Publishers

Association in

November 2005.

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Maria Pender wins Australia Day awardCommunity Child Care Board member, Maria

Pender, won one of seven Australia Day

Community Service and Youth Awards, presented

by Randwick City Council.

Maria, Director of Clovelly Child Care Centre for

the past 21 years, was awarded the 'Outstanding

Innovation in the Provision of a Community Service

or Facility Award.' She is pictured here with her

local MP, Peter Garrett.

ABC attempts to shift liability

ABC Learning is appealing a $200 fine from the Victorian Department of Human Services, imposed when a two-year old boy climbed over the fence at the ABC Hoppers Crossing centre almost three years ago.ABC Learning says that the employee, not the

company, is liable. The Victorian Government

is arguing that individuals are the company

for the purposes of the breach of duty. There

are concerns about the implications of the

outcome for both childcare workers and the

industry.

Barbara Romeril from Community Child

Care Victoria said there would be situations

where an individual staff member should be

held liable if they’ve done something illegal

or deliberately and maliciously breached

the regulations. ‘But their employer is also

responsible,‘ she said. ‘When a parent leaves

their child in a childcare centre, they don’t

have a contract with the employee. Their

contract is with the owner who’s offering that

service in the community.’


THE SYDNEY PEACE PRIZE ■

The dramatic impact warfare has on children and

communities struggling to rebuild was the key feature

of the 2005 Sydney Peace Prize Lecture. It was delivered

by prize recipient Olara Otunnu, United Nations Under

Secretary General for the Protection of Children in

Armed Conflict. Rattler presents an extract from his

important and moving speech.

WARCHILD

“WHEN adults wage war, children pay

the highest price. Children are

both its targets and, increasingly, its instruments.

Over 250,000 children continue to be exploited

as child soldiers used variously as combatants,

porters, spies and sex slaves. Tens of thousands of

girls are being subjected to rape and other forms

of sexual violence, including as a deliberate tool

of warfare. Abductions are becoming widespread

and brazen, as we have witnessed, for example,

in Northern Uganda, Nepal and Burundi. Since

2003, over 11.5 million children were displaced

within their own countries, and 2.4 million children

have been forced to flee conflict and take refuge

outside their home countries. Approximately 800 to

1,000 children are killed or maimed by landmines

every month. In the last decade, over 2 million

children have been killed in conflict situations,

over 6 million have been seriously injured or

permanently disabled. As the horror of Beslan and

other incidents have recently demonstrated, schools

are increasingly being targeted for atrocities and

abductions.

Children represent the hopes and future of every

society; destroy them and you have destroyed a

society.

There has been a qualitative shift in the nature

and conduct of warfare. Almost all the major

armed conflicts in this world today are internal;

unfolding within national boundaries and typically

being fought by multiple semi-autonomous armed

groups. In particular, they are defined by the

systematic and widespread targeting of civilian

populations. These conflicts tend to be protracted,

often in recurring cycles, thus exposing successive

generations of children to horrendous violence.

Most cynically, children have been compelled to

become themselves the instruments of war—indeed

the weapon of choice—recruited or kidnapped to

become child soldiers. Another feature of these

conflicts is the proliferation of light-weight weapons

that are easily assembled and borne by children.

Over the last several years, I have led a UN-based

campaign to mobilise international action on behalf

of children exposed to war, promoting measures for

their protection in times of war and for their healing

and social reintegration in the aftermath of conflict.

These efforts culminated in concrete compliance

measures submitted to the Security Council in

January 2005. On 26 July 2005, the UN Security

Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1612,

endorsing the series of far-reaching measures

designed to institute a serious, formal and

structured compliance regime for the protection of

children exposed to war.

Clearly, the compilation of information on violations

and the listing of offending parties (as detailed

in the resolution) have little value unless they

serve as triggers for action, beginning with the

Security Council and other decision-making bodies.

However, it is crucial that this issue be taken up

beyond the corridors of the United Nations, by the

concerned public at large. That is why we need a

major international public campaign for compliance.

I believe that we should strongly support local

communities in their efforts to reclaim and

strengthen Indigenous cultural norms that have

traditionally provided for the protection of children

and women in times of war.

Societies throughout history have recognised the

obligation to provide children with special protection

from harm, even in times of war. Distinctions

between acceptable and

unacceptable practices

have been maintained, as

have time-honoured taboos

and injunctions prohibiting

indiscriminate targeting of

civilian populations, especially

children and women. These

traditional norms provide a

‘second pillar of protection’,

reinforcing and complementing

the ‘first pillar of protection’

provided by international

instruments. ■

The Sydney Peace Prize is

awarded annually by the Sydney

Peace Foundation.

This is an extract from

‘Saving our children from the

scourge of war’, delivered on

November 9, 2005.

More on the Peace Prize

can be found at:

www.spf.arts.usyd.edu.au

With pay increases already achieved for childcare work-ers in the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, Victoria, the Northern Territory and Western Australia,

the New South Wales childcare workforce has finally had its day in court.

The judgement in the case, run by the LHMU on behalf of the approximately 15,000-strong childcare workforce, recognised the historical undervaluation of their work in awarding the increase of between $62–$170 per week.

The full bench of the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW said the evidence overwhelmingly showed that rates of pay for the childcare workers to whom the Award applies, are too low and that the work of childcare workers is undervalued. The judgement also highlighted the significant and ongoing changes in work require-ments, the increased scrutiny of governments and increased regu-lation, the levels of responsibility borne by workers for the care and education of the largely under-school-aged children, and the increased skill and complexity of the work undertaken.


■ INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Equity win ‘UNDERVALUED’ NSW WORKERS AWARDED PAY INCREASE

NSW childcare workers finally

received their pay increase

on the eve of International

Women’s Day.

Liz Willis reports.

An emotional moment as LHMU Branch

Secretary Annie Owens (left) and childcare

delegates celebrate their historic pay equity win.

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The 18-month long NSW case is historic in that it is the first private sector pay equity appli-cation to be heard in this state in any industry and, due to the impending changes to federal industrial relations legislation, it is likely to be the last ever pay equity case for women workers.

During the hearings, a number of child-care workers addressed the Industrial Relations Commission on increased workloads, respon-sibilities and expectations in their workplaces. Noel Quinn, an LHMU Industrial Officer, said this evidence was crucial to the case.

‘Thirteen childcare members stepped out of their childcare centres to come before the full bench of the Commission. It was a daunting task and they did a wonderful job,’ he said.

‘The full bench also visited three childcare centres, one nominated by each of the two major parties in the proceedings and one centre nominated by the Union.’

‘We accessed both pay equity and work value principles in this case and there was also a mountain of evidence from academics and experts which went to the gender under-valua-tion of the industry.’

‘The two principles are very closely aligned as a lack of value being placed on work often self-perpetuates the gender under-valuation.’

Both employers and the Federal Government roundly condemned the NSW decision. The Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, described the increase as unsustainable and the Chief Executive of Employers First, Gary Brack, warned about fee rises and employment restructuring.

Will the sky fall in?

Rather than listening to the scare mongering of very well paid men, it is much more instruc-tive to assess the evidence from other states and territories where pay increases have already been awarded to childcare workers.

The first round of pay increases was imple-mented in Victoria in July 2005.

The two-year long case for childcare workers in Victorian and the ACT resulted in weekly pay increases of $82.20 for Diploma-qualified workers and $64.50 for Certificate III workers. Employers have an option to deliver the wage rises in one go or phase them in.

One of the fears raised by employers about the possible impacts of wage increases was a blow out in fees.

In Victoria, the impact on fees has been at the levels predicted by Community Child Care Victoria; on average $2 per day per place where the service is phasing in the wage increase, with an expected increase of $2 per day in the next phase of wage rises. However, a number of serv-

ices had already increased fees in anticipation of the wage rise so families using these services have not seen any further increases.

‘The fee increases have not had a significant impact on utilisation; families continue to use services and not-for-profit services, in particular, continue to experience high levels of demand and, often, very long waiting lists,’ said Barbara

Rather than listening to the scare mongering

of very well paid men, it is much more

instructive to assess the evidence.

■ THE PAY EQUITY RESULTS

The rates of the Advanced Child Care Worker and the Child Care

Worker classifications have been increased by 12 per cent for those

employed in preschools, and 16 per cent for those in long day care.

The pay increases are between $62 and $170 per week.

Which workers will receive the increase?

Child Care Workers (that is, untrained workers) will get between $62

and $93 per week, with qualified workers getting up to $170 more

per week.

When will the increases occur?

The increases are being phased in over two years. By the time you

read this, most workers will have already received their first increase

of 4 per cent. Every September and March until March 2008, workers

will receive another 4 per cent, or the balance of the remaining

increase, until the full increase for their classification is reached.

Are there any other changes?

Sick leave will go up to 15 days in the first year and 12 in every year

after (to a maximum of 120 days). Other changes are still being

clarified as this issue of Rattler went to press.

Why was the increase granted?

The Industrial Relations Commission basically awarded the

increases because they accepted that the work of childcare workers

has been traditionally undervalued and that the nature of childcare

work has changed in recent years.

In their judgement, the Commission stated that ‘a case of

undervaluation on a gender basis was made out on the evidence…

the work of childcare workers is undervalued … Childcare workers

are generally perceived to have low pay and low status, with the

result that few males are employed in the industry.’

The evidence highly demonstrated the effect of changes in work

requirements upon childcare workers, with the impact of innovations

such as the way in which children attending these centres are

taught, having regard to developments in research about how the

brain develops and how children learn.

The Industrial Relations Commission also stated that ‘there can

be no doubt of the importance to our society of the work which the

predominantly female childcare workers employed in this State

perform’.

The Commission expressed concern that the underpayment of

childcare workers persisted ‘despite the now longstanding concern

repeatedly expressed in a variety of forums, including by government,

that childcare workers are underpaid’.

Romeril, Executive Director of Community Child Care Victoria. ‘Contrary to the dire warn-ings of the commercial sector representatives, no services have gone into crisis as a result of the wage rises.

‘However, there has not yet been any measur-able improvement in recruitment or retention of qualified staff or in enrolments in childcare train-ing courses. A large number of childcare vacan-cies continue to be advertised every week.’

Rosemary Waite of the Victorian Children’s Services Association said staff morale has defi-nitely improved, especially in services which gave the full wage rise in one go, rather than phasing it in.

Sue Jennings, Director of the Gordon Early Childhood Centre in the ACT, which imple-mented the rise in one go in September 2005, also noticed the increase in staff morale, ‘especially when the lump sum came through!’. Gordon’s fees went up the full $4 per day in one go but Sue Jennings said the feedback from parents has been positive.

‘There was lots of media coverage about the wage rise case so parents had a chance to read about it themselves—it wasn’t just us telling them,’ she said.

‘Lots of parents said they did not know how poorly paid childcare workers were, how we deserved the increase and that the amount and quality of work we do is really appreciated.

‘We have to keep advocating the value and worth of childcare workers.’

In September 2005, the South Australian work-ers won pay increases of $60–190 per week and the LHMU won two awards for their cam-paign; one being a State Encouragement Award from NIFTeY (National Investment for the Early Years).

John Spreckley from the LHMU SA said the process was cooperative, with extensive con-ciliation chaired by the Industrial Relations Commission and most items being agreed to by consent.

Next were childcare workers in the Northern Territory, who were awarded their increase in mid-December 2005.

In WA, the increase was only recently deliv-ered to long day care workers in February 2006, with one employer group successfully removing

themselves from the decision, saying they needed more time to put their objections case.

Carewest president, Doreen Blythe, says there was much excitement among staff and manage-ment about the outcome of the case

‘It was really so much work. But it was worth it because everyone just wants the best for child-care,’ she said

‘The wage increase further highlights the ben-efits of choosing a community-owned childcare centre as an employer.’

Community Child Care Co-operative (NSW) CEO, Carol Lymbery, says clear communication with parents and carers about fee changes is essential.

‘We recommend all centres do this sooner rather than later to allay any fears parents may have about the nature of fee rises.’

‘We also hope that the very first increase peo-ple receive in their pay packets is used to join the union if they are not already members. Childcare workers can no longer claim they cannot afford to join the union. It is clear after this judgement that they cannot afford not to.’ ■


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‘Lots of parents said they did not know how poorly paid childcare

workers were, how we deserved the increase and that the amount

and quality of work we do is really appreciated.’

Sue Jennings, Director, Gordon Early Childhood Centre, ACT


IT IS NO LONGER NECESSARY to work inside the early childhood sector to understand that something is drastically wrong with the structure and funding of Australian childcare. A quick flick through the daily newspapers will show a commentary on what is wrong within the sector, a ‘disaster’ story about a parent’s experience at a childcare centre, or another analysis of how to overhaul the system. Ideas about identifying the problems are as disparate as proposed solutions.

Three proposals have recently been announced— by Australia’s largest welfare body, the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS), the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Australian Labor Party—to resolve problems in the childcare sector. ■ Fair Start: 10 point plan for early childhood education and care, a report pub-

lished by ACOSS, identifies the critical issues within the early childhood educa-tion and care system as: variable quality of care, accessibility, affordability and lack of access to formal preschool in the year prior to school.

Solutions from the report include the publishing of a schedule of ‘Government Recommended Fees’; replacing the 30 per cent childcare tax rebate (promised during the 2004 federal election campaign, but unavailable until the end of the 2005/06 financial year) with a 30 per cent Child Care Benefit (CCB) guarantee; building a better planning system for early education and care; and the provision of 20 free hours of preschool for all children in the year before school, with the CCB extended to all other forms of preschool education.

■ The ACTU proposal calls for an end to what they term ‘the childcare wars’. Pointing to the inadequacy of the solutions proposed by federal Liberal par-liamentarians to the childcare crisis, like ACOSS, they also point to the trio of

The battle of ideas is heating up—there are many proposals and suggestions floating around about how

to resolve the key issues of access, affordability and

quality in children’s services. Lisa Bryant assesses

the merits of three new proposals.

THE CHILDCARE CRISIS ■

where to

NOW?

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accessibility, affordability and quality of care as the key issues that must be addressed.

The ACTU suggests the Federal Government invest in the construction of 1,000 new child-care centres; guarantee up to 20 hours of affordable childcare for working families; fund an increase in wages for childcare workers; and resolve the childcare workforce crisis.

■ Under the ALP plan, the Federal Government would provide capital funding for new centres on the grounds of primary schools and other suitable community land; ‘unlock’ unused places for outside school hours, holiday and family day care to address ‘shortages which arise during the year’; and fund councils to establish single waiting lists for childcare places in their local government area.

The ALP also suggests that they will institute ‘better planning’ so new childcare places will go to areas that need them most and resolve what they call ‘the childcare tax rebate red tape disaster’.

All three proposals have merit, but do they address the essential issues of affordability, access and quality? The continued rise in labour force participation rates of women with young chil-dren, coupled with the growing recognition of the value of good quality childcare and educa-tion programs for children (regardless of parents’ employment status) means that the pressure for affordable, accessible and quality childcare will only increase in Australia.

Building a better future?

The ALP proposals look at access as the pre-dominant issue, but no real solutions to quality or affordability as part of the overall equation. In some parts of Australia, access to care is the critical issue—has the ALP proposed workable solutions to the problem?

Better planning will go a long way towards improving the supply of childcare. This Federal Government does not see its role as controlling the supply of childcare centres. Rather, it is seek-ing to stimulate demand through the Child Care Benefit, and hoping that providers will enter the market in areas of great demand.

The ALP has seen the problem with this notion—especially in areas where land values are too high for a newly established childcare centre to become profitable—and has proposed capital funding to create 1,000 new childcare centres.

This is a plan with substantial merit (a plan which is also proposed by the ACTU), but would need to be extended with the provision that only community-based or not-for-profit childcare operators could operate the new centres.

Their proposal to remove restrictions on outside school hours care and family day care places could create the same planning chaos that we currently have in long day care.

Funding councils to set up a single waiting list for their local government area, is undoubtedly a workable solution. Councils and parents in those areas where such lists have been created are gen-erally supportive of this idea.

Ending the ‘childcare wars’

The ACTU’s solution to increase affordability is to subsidise ‘all parents who are in work or wanting to work, for up to 20 hours of childcare’. Using the current costs of care in not-for-profit services, the ACTU has estimated this would cost the Federal Government a maximum of $2.7 bil-lion per year. Not a bad idea but, given the desire for the current Government to register large budget surpluses, an unlikely prospect.

The ACTU also seeks to improve the qual-ity of care by addressing workforce issues. Their solution is to offer more training places at TAFE and to pay ‘fair wages and conditions for child-care workers commensurate with the skill and responsibility required to support critical early childhood development’. They call for all levels of government to accept responsibility ‘for career and professional development support to retain the current workforce and attract back those with qualifications that have left in frustration’.

A fair start

ACOSS’s proposal raises some good solutions, many of which are well reasoned. They suggest establishing a national planning system for early childhood education and care; establishing a national demand model for care; new funding for services in areas where demand is unmet; new funding for Indigenous services; new funding for support for services for children with disabilities; 20 free hours of preschool for all children in the year before school; and an expansion of the JET Child Care Program.

ACOSS has also made the recommendation of implementing ‘spot checks’ for centres and mak-ing the information gleaned from these checks available to families.

The continued rise in labour force participation rates of women

with young children, coupled with the growing recognition of the value of

good quality childcare ... means that the pressure for affordable,

accessible and quality childcare will only increase in Australia.


The proposal to produce a schedule of govern-ment recommended fees does not really address the problem of undersupply in some areas. Basic economics suggests that when demand is high, prices move upwards—regardless of what any government recommended rate is.

ACOSS’s affordability recommendations need to be developed further. Although their sugges-tion of abandoning the childcare tax rebate is very sound and very well reasoned (as is the sug-gestion to expand Child Care Benefit to all pre-schools), increasing the minimum rate of CCB to 30 per cent would result in a higher subsidy directed towards wealthier families.

Conclusion

While Australia has serious issues with the provision of childcare that need to be resolved, it is not a unique crisis—many OECD countries face similar problems. The Federal Government already spends a large amount on childcare throughout Australia, but is it wisely allocated?

Fact 1: Most of the money spent on childcare by the Federal Government is through Child Care Benefit, the payment that reduces the cost of childcare to families. Fifteen per cent of all Child Care Benefit goes to families that earn above $95,000 per year. Therefore, 15 per cent of all expenditure of childcare throughout Australia reduces the cost of care for affluent families by around $5 per day.

Fact 2: A very large proportion of the money that the Federal Government spends on CCB goes to one company. Eddy Groves, the CEO of ABC Learning Centres admitted in an interview at the end of last year that 44 per cent of his com-pany’s income came from Federal Government funding. ABC Learning made over $38 million dollars profit in the last six months, an amount that exits the childcare sector through to share-holder dividends.

These are two examples of where funds have been ill-directed within the sector, but there is another crucial reason why families can’t get the childcare services that they need—no govern-ment in Australia thinks they are responsible for the provision of childcare!

Recently, a employee of the Department of Family, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, explained to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee that ‘the Commonwealth Government is really in the business of assisting parents with the costs of childcare. We have an interest in the viability of the sector, obviously, but it is not primarily our responsibility. It is a kind of shared responsibility across several levels of government, the private sector and employers’.

This may come as a surprise to the state, terri-tory and local governments, who have always con-sidered that childcare is a Federal Government responsibility, and a surprise to the corporate sector, who always thought their responsibilities were to their shareholders. Is this what is meant by the ‘childcare wars’? ■

Lisa Bryant is an early childhood education and child-

care consultant.

■ The ALP proposal, ‘My Plan For Childcare On School

Grounds’, is available online at: www.alp.org.au

■ The paper, Fair Start: 10-point plan for early child-

hood education & care, is available on the ACOSS

website, www.acoss.org.au

■ More information about the new ACTU plan can be

found at: www.actu.asn.au

These are two examples of where funds have been

ill-directed [...] but there is another crucial reason

why families can’t get the childcare services that

they need—no government in Australia thinks they

are responsible for the provision of childcare!

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CHILDREN ARE NOW exposed to different cultural practices both within our own country and those countries around us.

As children and parents are increasingly con-fronted with a plurality of values; long-held assumptions about families, socialisation of chil-dren, cultural practices and attitudes will be questioned more than ever before.

As a result, traditional institutions such as the family and school may have less control over the influences that affect children. Our children will inherit this changing social and cultural environ-ment and, in turn, childhood will be profoundly affected by it.

We can see this already in the trend for close relationships between adults and children being contracted out to the market so parents can in turn participate in the labour market themselves; a move often referred to as the ‘commercialisa-tion of intimacy’.

For example: the care of children has increas-ingly become a commercial activity, rather than something we see as a family and neighbourhood responsibility. Children’s time, for adults, can be more about purchasing services to occupy and supervise them, than about family life.

Adults who provide services to children gener-ally do a fabulous job for little recognition, but the relationship underpinning this is one of adults providing a commercial service to other adults.

It is not a free exchange of time, effort, love and attention that forms part of the deep web of attachments that occur within families. So

opportunities children have for developing inti-macy and attachments may be changing as the global market asserts itself.

Globalisation also increases the opportunities for economic expansion.

To capitalise on these opportunities, there are calls for governments to invest in their popula-tions so they can exploit these opportunities.

Globalisation may reinforce valuing children in the 21st century primarily as future workers, as ‘human capital investment’, rather than as children who have intrinsic value by virtue of their childhood.

Seeing children primarily as investments has profound implications.

On the positive side it may mean that resourc-es are pumped into good quality education and health care for children precisely because they are constructed as ‘investments’.

But if the policy aim is to create the smartest and most adaptable workforce possible, then there may be little interest in children’s quality of life, for its own sake.

So globalisation holds challenges as well as opportunities for children and for how adults construct childhood and, therefore, its social and economic policies. Global communication means children can access more information, locally and globally.

Advances in media technology are one of the most visible changes occurring around us.

With these technologies, children are able to independently obtain information, and perhaps act more independently from home, school and

In a recent speech to the Benevolent Society, Commissioner for Children

and Young People, Gillian Calvert, discussed five key issues she believes will

influence children and childhood in the 21st century. Rattler presents an

extract from her speech focusing on globalisation and social inequality.


■ CHILDREN AND THE FUTURE

21CCHILDHOOD


community, than previous generations. You only have to think of the social networks

children create through chat rooms. Everyday life will increasingly require use of technologies.

At a broader level some difficult policy ques-tions are raised by these technologies. Do these technologies foster the global citizen—or the global consumer?

Social inequality

Australia has the fifth worst level of income inequality amongst developed democracies, ranking ninth worst in child poverty amongst rich nations. The trends over the last 30 years may mean this inequality may only deepen as we progress through this century.

Governments have undergone a sea change in what they see as their responsibilities.

The shape of the welfare state has transformed as has how governments deliver services as wit-nessed by the recent welfare to work and indus-trial relations changes.

These changes have had and will continue to have profound effects on families and children.

The welfare state traditionally buffered families from the impacts of economic downturns. This was done for the sake of stability and equity for the population ie, stable work, security of income

and guaranteed essential services help parents to care for their children.

However, governments have fled from some of these responsibilities and are increasingly relying on the private provision of services; for example health care, education and telecommunications.

If this trend does continue then we may increas-ingly see a division between children whose needs can be secured by their family and those who have no guarantees.

The choices that confront us are complex. We can choose to make childhood in the 21st

century something that is inherently beneficial and enjoyable or we can accept the view that childhood is a burdensome period, one that we should grow out of as quickly as possible.

Hopefully, we will choose not to focus on growing out of childhood so much that we become blinded to the treatment of our chil-dren—as children. An improvement in children’s life opportunities will be an important lever for rescuing economic growth and well-being in the future.

We need to recognise that responsibility for children is not just about parents’ obligations, but also society’s obligations.

A family by itself cannot raise its children—it needs us all. ■

Gillian Calvert


Comments on the need for childcare reform made by Coalition back-bencher and former Howard golden girl, Jackie Kelly, in November hit the media back in January.

Kelly described the current system as a ‘shambles’, the childcare tax rebate as being ‘designed by people who don’t use it’, and

called for a range of tax reform measures—including fringe benefits tax (FBT) exemption for childcare costs, encouraging employers to buy tax free places at childcare centres for their employees, and allowing the inclusion of childcare costs in salary sacrificing.

The reaction was swift and positive. The Family and Community Services Minister at the time, Kay Patterson, predictably blamed the shortfall on state and local governments and promised childcare would be a priority in the Federal Budget. This promise was backed by the Treasurer, Peter Costello, but he qualified it would only be in funding more places for after school care not for a fundamental reform of the system’s operations. Several female Coalition members also heartily backed Kelly’s call, with Bronwyn Bishop and Jeannie Ferris suggesting the cost of nannies also be tax deductible.

It is the type of Coalition media performance that leaves observers wonder-ing—what exactly is going on?

Such a move from Jackie Kelly is unlikely to be one made in defiant disu-nity and that the Treasurer is slightly discomforted by the announcement adds weight to the theory of it being a Prime Ministerial-approved exercise to gauge community reaction. And finally, just in case Cabinet hadn’t quite got the tax reform message, a couple of weeks after the Kelly media missive, the accounting firm Deloitte, along with 36 other companies such as the ANZ and Westpac banks, announced they had drafted a submission to the Government calling for all childcare services, including day care centres and nannies, to be exempt from fringe benefits tax. And it was barely February!

That serious reform is required in this sector is blatantly obvious—and parents and carers struggling to stretch scant available childcare across their increasingly complex lives welcome any political attention being paid to their plight. The early childhood education and childcare community will be more than familiar with the story so far: soaring costs of childcare—rising by 10.2 per cent last year; the frightening gap between demand and supply; a distinct lack of long or short-term planning in recognition of this gap; and the surge of for-profit childcare businesses which by their nature can potentially put upward pressure on prices.

2006 dawned and childcare

was in the headlines again.

Was it because everyone

was trying to lock in

childcare arrangements?

Or was it just because

it’s a slow news time,

so childcare stories

manage to cut through?

Or was it signalling

a major government

commitment towards

healing this festering sore

on the Australian social

landscape?

Liz Willis reports.

flying flagthe

■ FEDERAL POLITICS

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At the beginning of the new

parliamentary year, Jackie Kelly

threatened to cross the floor

to vote against any further

spending on Parliament House

unless there was a childcare

centre built there.


Ownership in the childcare industry is becoming increasingly concentrated with ABC Learning Centres not only controlling about 20 per cent of the market in Australia (more than 700 centres) but also being the world’s biggest listed childcare company after purchasing the US-based Learning Care Group. ABC Learning is on track for an $88 million dollar profit this year with an estimated 44 per cent of its income coming from the Federal Government. It is such statistics that bring to life ALP Shadow Minister for Childcare, Tanya Plibersek’s poign-ant comment to ABC Television: ‘We haven’t asked ourselves as a community why is it OK to make money out of six-month-old-babies but not six-year-old children. We don’t do it in education but we do it in childcare.’

Childcare reform requires serious politi-cal leadership; not just another $600 election sweetener at Budget time. Currently workplace childcare facilities are exempt from FBT, a situation which works for large and centralised employers only. So while cars and parking can be claimed by all businesses as a tax deduction, the courts have previously said the costs of childcare are too remote from the activity of earning an

income to be claimed as a deduction. In 1991, the full Federal Court said making the costs of childcare tax deductible would be a matter for the Parliament.

But is this the whole solution?

In a rare moment of appearing to side with less well-off Australians, Treasurer Costello reit-erated his opposition to childcare-related tax reform several weeks later, claiming it would only advantage those on the top marginal tax rate. ‘Most parents and particularly most women don’t pay the top marginal tax rate,’ he told Southern Cross Radio. In this statement he shows his ignorance of the proposal put forward by both Jackie Kelly and the corporates, and of the difference between an FBT exemption and a tax deduction—indeed a worrying sign for the Federal Treasurer and surely another pointer as to the political priority of childcare in the Federal Government.

Even the ALP agrees that serious reform is required in tax treatment of childcare costs but Plibersek also calls for greater investment in long day care places, especially in areas of chronic shortage, and an increase in the Child Care Benefit, as well as reform of fringe benefits tax.

Australian Democrats leader, Lyn Allison, emphasised the need for broad reform but stressed that any genuine overhaul of the system must also include paid maternity leave—an issue which has once again disap-peared off the Government’s agenda after Pru Goward’s attempts at raising the issue as Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 2002.

Community Child Care Co-operative agrees that in many ways the current system is a sham-bles.

‘What parents want is simple, affordable child-care that meets their needs. What they have is a Federal Government that refuses to acknowledge that their plan of letting market forces fill child-care needs has not worked,’ Community Child Care CEO, Carol Lymbery, said.

She says the best solution needs a radical rethink of childcare policy, but that in the interim, abolishing the tax rebate; reforming CCB payments and distribution; funding com-munity-based long day care centres in areas of high need; re-introducing planning controls on

■ ABS FIGURES CONFIRM CHILDCARE MESS

Survey results from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

highlighted in recent news stories point to alarming trends in

childcare accessibility.

The Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation survey

released in February confirmed lack of access to childcare is a major

barrier to work. The survey said almost 100,000 mothers who want

to work cannot start because of childcare commitments and that a

further 160,500 who want to work more hours cannot do so because

of lack of childcare availability.

Figures from the last national survey on childcare conducted by the

ABS in 2002 and recently analysed by UnitingCare Burnside showed

that children from lower-income families were missing out on formal

childcare and preschool. Only one in five children from low-income

families attend long day care centres or preschools. Their parents

were also less likely to have support from grandparents and other

family members. When a childcare place was available, parents

could not afford the fees, even after receiving the maximum Child

Care Benefit.

ABS consumer price index figures in January 2006 also showed that

the cost of childcare rose 10.2 per cent last year, more than three

times the inflation rate.

Ownership in the childcare industry is becoming increasingly concentrated, with ABC

Learning Centres not only controlling about 20 per cent of the market in Australia (more than

700 centres) but also being the world’s biggest listed childcare company after purchasing the

US-based Learning Care Group. ABC Learning is on track for an $88 million dollar profit this

year with an estimated 44 per cent of its income coming from the Federal Government.


where new centres are built; and acknowledging the failure of market forces to fill childcare needs might give families ‘a fighting chance of getting affordable childcare when they need it, where they need it.’

Another day and another set of ABS statistics confirmed that lack of suitable childcare is pre-venting more than 250,000 women who either want to work or want to work more hours. The same data also showed that children from low-income families—ones who could most benefit from preschool and formal childcare are more likely to miss out.

How serious is our political leadership in tak-ing this to the wire? Recently, Jackie Kelly once again reiterated her determination to keep her employer incentive-based program of reform on the agenda, announcing the formation of a backbench group to keep pushing for a major overhaul of the system. She also threatened to cross the floor to vote against any further spend-ing on Parliament House unless there was a childcare centre built there.

Meanwhile, just quietly, there is a new Minister for Families. We know Mal Brough is a Queenslander with three children, a distin-guished military record and previous Ministerial responsibilities. He made no public statements in childcare until six weeks into this passionate

debate, when he defended the current system and the incoming 30 per cent rebate. He also promised that more information on the loca-tion of available childcare places would be made available through Centrelink as a part of the Government’s Welfare to Work changes, and re-announced extra after school hours care places as originally announced in last year’s Budget.

He made this comment to Rattler: ‘I am aware of the issues facing parents. I have had three chil-dren at different times in childcare. I know how important it is to make sure families feel they have available childcare, and that it is something they can feel comfortable and secure with.’

It appears it will be up to Jackie Kelly to keep the Government childcare flag flying in Canberra in any significant way, even though she is but one backbench voice. She can highlight child-care as a key issue as much as she wants—but the real proof of Government commitment will be in the upcoming May Budget. ■

More information■ www.jackiekelly.net/dynamic.asp?id=199

■ www.alp.org.au/media/index.php?task=search&

keywords=&name=Plibersek+Tanya&pt=

■ www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]

ReleaseDate2879E09918230FEECA25710C0076FD6F?

OpenDocument.

The new Minister

responsible for

childcare,

Mal Brough.


WAITARA Children’s Services benefits from its longevity; established 25 years ago, and its location; 25 kilometres from the CBD on Sydney’s north shore.

‘I guess 25 years ago when we built children’s centres there was a greater emphasis on the use of outdoor space, on creating envi-ronments that were like a home environment and here we’ve been fortunate enough to maintain that,’ says Waitara’s Acting Director, Kim Bertino.

‘Also, we’ve had the space around us to add extra facilities and buildings, like the demountable for the after-school care program, without encroaching on existing space.’

A visitor to the centre first takes in the long day care area with its enormous outdoor section featuring extensive shaded play and verandah areas, and a large indoor area bursting with just about every activity a child could imagine.

Then a walk past the kitchen, where lunch is taking shape, and into the occasional care section where an equally impressively large outdoor play area is dotted with colourful interactive play features. This is supplemented by a room full of indoor activities overseen by popular, long time worker and coordinator, Sally Wollington.

Over the fence from occasional care, the after-school area also has a large outdoor section dominated by a sprawling gum tree and the children here also get regular use of the ovals at Our Lady of the Rosary School next door. All these three areas have visual contact with each other enabling brothers, sisters and friends to see each other at play.

There’s something unnerving

about walking into a childcare

centre at 11am on a weekday

and it seems, well, quiet. It

is even more surreal when

you realise there are close

to 70 children in the centre.

Welcome to the green and leafy

Waitara Children’s Services

where the relaxed environment

and spaciousness seem to

magically absorb the happy

noise of children at work.

Liz Willis reports.

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Liz

Wil

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A total family package, not just a childcare centre

■ AT THE COALFACE

Not just a childcare centre

From left to right: Kim

Bertino, Letitia, Alberta and

Fiona Colville at Waitara.


But wait, there’s more! Over in another spa-cious area a group of babies, preschoolers and family day care carers are at their regular play-group meeting. On this hot summer’s day, there’s chaos at the water play area and lots of chatting and gurgling going on in the shade.

It is not hard to see how Waitara works for local families as a source of different childcare solutions as children grow and their parents’ needs and situations change.

Not only does Waitara Children’s Services offer 44 long day care places for 2–5 year olds, 25 occasional care places and a before and after school and vacation care program of 50 places, but they also manage a family day care scheme of 227 effective full-time places and have a demountable and play area for playgroups avail-able up to five days a week.

The centre also houses a toy library and administers the In-Home Care program for the Hornsby area.

Though they offer no religious-based pro-grams, Waitara is a non-profit organisation operating under the Integrated Family Services Centre framework (IFSC) of the Catholic fam-ily services arm, Centacare. The underlying philosophy of providing support through life transitions, plus Centacare’s extensive social

services network, enables Waitara to offer their comprehensive range of programs and services.

But where the size of the centre and the framework of Centacare really kick into action is in the provision of extra services not normally provided under the narrow definition of a child-care centre.

‘If we have a family in crisis there are services directly linked to the centre which can offer immediate assistance. These programs include emergency housing, early intervention programs and family support and assistance, to mention a few,’ Kim Bertino explains.

‘We then can support those programs by offering occasional care. For example, if parents are attending parenting skills courses or domes-tic violence programs we set aside places in our occasional care centre so we can care for their children while they attend.’

But while a childcare centre would be nothing without its children, it would be anarchy with-out its staff—and Waitara employs 25 perma-

‘Professionally, there’s always avenues to grow and develop

because you’re not just looking at your own program, and

there are children moving from one program to the next.’

Long Day Care Coordinator, Fiona Colville.

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nent staff with impressive retention rates.Sally Wollington has worked there for so long

that some of her ‘babies’ now work over the fence in the centre’s after-school care program.

‘As my needs have changed over the last 20 years, so have my working hours. It’s wonderful to be involved in a centre that can offer a bal-ance between work and family,’ she said.

One family day care carer has been with the organisation since it began and a third of the car-ers have been with the service for over 10 years.

‘Professionally there’s always avenues to grow and develop because you’re not just looking at your own program, and there are children mov-ing from one program to the next,’ said Long Day Care Coordinator, Fiona Colville.

‘There’s always linking-up between us from the long day care program and the occasional care program, the family day care officers and so on. Some lunch times you could have 20 people having lunch together. This creates a natural environment for sharing ideas and nurturing creativity within our programs and I think that exchange of ideas helps keep people a bit fresh.’

Previous to her current temporary position at Waitara, Kim Bertino conducted a report as consultant for Centacare last year and part of that report involved a customer satisfaction survey of the Centre.

‘100 per cent of the respondents said that they currently recommend the centre and its

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programs to family and friends and that’s an outstanding result and a very positive reflection on the staff and programs here,’ she said.

“Because of the size of the centre, we are able to employ a full-time administrator so that side of business is very efficient. There’s always someone at the front desk to meet the families and attend to their booking and payment needs. That means the program coordinators are able to focus their attention on providing quality programs for our children and families.’

While from the outside, it looks like a very diverse and multifaceted organisation which has evolved extensively in the past 25 years,

Kim Bertino says the centre still functions with the core values of quality care and education of young children.

‘It’s our holistic approach through the Integrated Family Service Centre model that allows us to meet the varied and complex needs of today’s families.’ ■

‘100 per cent of [survey] respondents said that they

currently recommend the Centre and its programs to

family and friends and that’s … a very positive reflection

on the staff and programs here’.

Acting Director, Kim Bertino


A childcare program from Central Desert

communities in Australia is being lauded

internationally.

from WALTJA to the

WORLD

The program, Warrki Jarrinjaku Jintangkamanu Purananjaku—Warlpiri for ‘working together everyone and listening’—is a partner-ship between senior A_nangu women from the Central Desert, the

Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi Aboriginal Corporation, and the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA). It is also known as the Aboriginal Child Rearing Strategy (ACRS).

‘One of the distinct features to emerge from Warrki Jarrinjaku ACRS is the different perceptions Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people hold in regards to babies and young children,’ says Kathryn Priest from FaCSIA.

‘In Kardiya (non-Aboriginal) cultures, babies are seen to be helpless and in need of a great deal of direction from adults; in contrast, A_nangu look at babies and children and see small adults.

‘These little people have a set place in the community and have the responsibility of Law and culture.’

Senior Aboriginal women involved in the project identified four key principles underpinning all matters involved in the development of their children:

Jukurrpa (the Dreaming),

Walartja (all family),

Ngurrara (the land, this place) and

Mardani (keeping everything together).

‘These four principles describe the child’s relationships and respon-sibilities for everything they come into contact with, whether that be people, animals, land and family,’ says Marilyn Nangala, a senior A_nangu law woman from Mt Leibig in Central Australia.

‘Children grow up understanding they are part of this system and are responsible for upholding these principles.’

In the Warrki Jarrinjaku–ACRS partnership, A_nangu cultural knowl-edge is officially recognised as being equal to mainstream knowledge.

‘Warrki Jarrinjaku recognises that there is a “gap” in the mainstream knowledge base and this creates an environment where genuine collabo-ration and partnerships can occur,’ says Priest.

‘To put this into practice, governments, related professionals and A_nangu need to work together to combine their knowledge and expertise.’

A_nangu children sleep, eat and play whenever and wherever they choose. However, the practice of responding to a child’s desires does not negate the existence of behaviour controls. Children are encouraged to behave in very specific ways.

Marilyn Nangala (left)

and Kathryn Priest at a childcare conference

in the United Kingdom.

An_angu cultural knowledge informs this

diagram, below, of how childcare sits in the

big picture of power and responsibility.


Nangala and Priest explain in A_nangu culture, quality child rearing principles and practice place a great deal of emphasis on a child’s ability to learn compassion for others and to share.

‘A feature shared by many Indigenous cultures around the world is the practice of placing chil-dren at the centre of decision making within the community. This child-centred approach to childcare has been adopted with success outside of Aboriginal communities,’ says Priest.

There has been a great deal of national and international interest in Warrki Jarrinjaku Aboriginal Child Rearing Strategy as it fills a significant gap in the current information on early childhood.

Last year, Dr Margy Whalley, an internation-ally respected early childhood professional and Director of the renowned Pen Green Centre, invited Kathryn Priest and Marilyn Nangala to the United Kingdom to present a keynote address at an early childhood leadership con-ference, International Leadership Symposium. The level of interest generated by their presen-tation has meant they have been invited back to the UK again this year.

Dr Whalley has translated A_nangu sleeping practices into her own childcare centre near London.

‘Instead of using cots, the centre has baskets on the floor and babies and young children choose when and where they want to sleep,

crawling in and out of the baskets as they desire,’ says Priest.

‘This example raises some key questions in relation to developing a quality assurance sys-tem, namely whose standards of quality are to be measured?

‘One person seeing children sleeping in bas-kets on the floor of a centre may consider this to be dangerous and poor practice, while another person will see this as high quality.’

In collaboration with the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care and the National Childcare Accreditation Council, FaCSIA is currently exploring the possibility of developing a quality assurance system for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander childcare.

‘For non-Aboriginal people, mainstream childcare and schools reflect Kardiya culture,’ says Waltja Tjutangku Palypayi Aboriginal Corporation Manager, Sharijn King.

‘Books, TV, how people dress, the way people talk to each other—all these things help to keep Kardiya culture strong. Yapa childcare and schools need to be like Yapa camp and way of living if they are to keep Yapa culture strong.’ ■

Far left, Kathleen

Dixon, working with

children at Pipirri

Wiima Tjutaka Child

Care at Ikuntji (Haasts

Bluff) Community,

280 km West of Alice

Springs. Above and

left, children at Santa

Teresa community

childcare.

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‘Children grow up understanding they are part of this system and are responsible for

upholding these principles.’ Marilyn Nangala, senior Anangu law woman


■ LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH

growing up

ow well are Australian kids learn-ing, how do families, communities and different types of childcare affect that, and what role can governments play in assisting the process?

These are some of the questions Growing Up in Australia, or the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) hopes to answer over the next nine years by surveying 5,000 fami-lies with a four-year-old child and 5,000 families with an infant. Follow-ups will occur every two years, with the four-year-olds being seen at ages six, eight and 10 years, and the infants being seen at two, four and six years.

Teachers and childcare providers are an impor-tant source of this information. At each wave of the study, with parent permission, question-naires are sent to the LSAC child’s main educa-tion or childcare service for the teacher/carer to complete.

LSAC will provide information on child out-comes and achievements at key points in the developmental trajectory. Assessments will cover children’s health and their social, emotional, cognitive, physical and communicative abilities.

The following report focuses on information about early education and childcare experiences with the four-year-olds. This is just one part of the data collected so far.

Use of early childhood education and care

settings (Fig.1) Parents were asked about their child’s partici-

pation in education and childcare programs. The results for the whole sample (left-hand columns) showed that most of the LSAC children were attending an early childhood setting: 13.5 per cent of children were attending a pre-year one

program full-time at a school, 58.3 per cent were attending a preschool program (30.8 per cent in a school setting; 27.5 per cent in a non-school setting), and 23.8 per cent were attending a day care centre. Only 4.5 per cent were not attending school, preschool, or day care.

A higher proportion of children had entered a pre-year one program in New South Wales, 18 per cent compared to 13.5 per cent for the national average, and more children were not attending school, preschool, or day care, 8 per cent com-pared to 4.5 per cent. New South Wales also had the lowest proportion of children in school-based preschool (7 per cent) and the highest proportion in day care centres (37 per cent).


An ambitious, long-term study of 10,000 Australian children and

their families sheds light on early childhood education.

Dr Linda Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood

Education at Charles Sturt University, presents some

early findings from Growing Up in Australia.

in Australia

■ LSAC sample ■ NSW sample

Figure 1. Main early childhood education and care arrangement attended at

age 4–5 years: Proportions for LSAC total sample (N=4,983), and NSW (N=1,573)

and QLD (N=988) samples.

Pre-year 1 Preschool (school) Preschool (not school)

Day care none

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

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ati

on

: D

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The results presented in Figure 1 refer to the main early childhood program children were attending, but many children attended more than one setting: 30 per cent of children in pre-year one at school were attending outside school hours care; 40 per cent of children attending preschool and day care settings were also attend-ing another preschool or day care centre, or were receiving home-based childcare from relatives of other carers.

Early Literacy and Numeracy (Fig.2) Children’s learning and readiness to learn was

of particular interest. Early literacy and numer-

acy were assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) which is a standardised test of receptive vocabulary, and the Who Am I? (WAI) which assesses literacy and numeracy by asking children to copy or write shapes, numbers, letters, and words. These tests were administered during the home visit.

PPVT scores are shown in the left-hand col-umns. For this measure, we can see that scores were very similar for all of the four early child-hood settings: school, preschool, and day care. On the other hand, scores were lower for the group of children who did not attend early child-hood settings.

Who Am I? scores are shown in the right-hand columns. For this measure, we see that scores were highest for the children who had started full-time school in a pre-year one class. Scores were similar for the three groups attending pre-school and day care settings. The lowest scores were seen in children who did not attend school, preschool, or day care.

Gender, Early Literacy & Numeracy (Fig.3) The PPVT and WAI test scores were then

compared for boys and girls. The first two col-umns are boys’ and girls’ scores for the PPVT; the second two columns are boys’ and girls’ scores for the Who Am I? The columns show girls consist-ently achieving higher scores than boys for each test in each type of early childhood service.

Interestingly, for children not attending school, preschool or day care, there was no difference between boys’ and girls’ PPVT scores.

These results are based on very simple com-parisons, but they show quite clearly that despite the variety of different early childhood educa-

■ WHAT DOES GROWING UP IN AUSTRALIA MEAN FOR CHILDCARE WORKERS?

The second stage of Growing up in Australia will occur throughout

2006 and childcarers and preschool and primary teachers can

expect a similar process to that which was undertaken in 2004.

Interviewers will initially interview the child’s parent/s and will seek

the parent’s permission to approach the child’s carer or teacher

to take part in the study at this point. Parents will be encouraged

to discuss the study with their child’s carer or teacher. A short

questionnaire will then be forwarded to the carer or teacher.

The privacy of the information collected is of the utmost importance.

Individual people, families and children will not be identifiable in the

data and all interviewers and researchers involved must comply with

the Privacy Act 1988.

The information gathered from childcarers and teachers is vital to

the success of the study, so we hope that all carers and teachers

approached to participate in Growing Up in Australia will help us by

completing the brief questionnaire.

For further information about Growing Up in Australia, go to

www.aifs.gov.au/growingup, email [email protected], or

phone the Australian Institute of Family Studies on (03) 9214 7888.

■ Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test ■ Who Am I?

Figure 2. Early literacy and numeracy test scores by type of main early childhood education and care arrangement

attended at age 4-years for LSAC total sample.

Pre-year 1 Preschool (school) Preschool (not school) Day care none

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0


tion and care services around the country, four-year-old children attending these settings are achieving similar outcomes in early literacy and numeracy. Also, they are doing better in these areas than children who were not attending early childhood settings. Within each type of early childhood education setting, girls are advan-taged over boys in early literacy and numeracy.

A detailed picture of development over time

To date, we do not have comprehensive Australian data on the role of childcare in chil-dren’s development. Growing Up in Australia (LSAC) will allow us to evaluate the impact of childcare along with the many other factors that influence a child’s development in the early years.

Results from the study will identify education and childcare as possible contributors to positive outcomes and trajectories for children. This, in turn, will enable government to target policy directions and funding to programs or supports that are seen to be beneficial for families and children.

LSAC is expected to play a major role in fram-ing an on-going research agenda for early child-hood. ■More detailed information on Growing Up in Australia

is available at www.aifs.org.au/growingup or by

contacting Linda Harrison: [email protected]

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■ PPVT boys ■ PPVT girls ■ WAI boys ■ WAI girls

Figure 3: Early literacy and numeracy assessments for boys and girls

by main early childhood education and care arrangement attended at

age 4 years.

Pre-year 1 Preschool (school) Preschool (not school)

Daycare none

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

‘Growing Up in Australia will allow us to evaluate the impact of childcare along with the many other factors that influence a child’s development in the early years.’

Linda Harrison

It’s not a bird yet:The drama of drawingBy Ursula Kolbe

Published by Peppinot Press. Cost: $59.95

Building upon Kolbe’s popular book Rapunzel’s

Supermarket, this is a beautiful resource to

draw on for insight and inspiration.

Laden with gorgeous illustrations, photographs

and anecdotes, it describes how to interpret

children’s drawings. It also shows how to

encourage children to investigate their worlds

through drawing, providing example activities for

small groups and how to help without interfering.

In the section ‘Enchanting the eye, expanding

horizons’, Kolbe describes how to spark the

imagination by helping children see familiar things

in a new light, saying ‘Ideas often spring from seeing

the unexpected.’

We’re sailing to Galapagos:A week in the PacificBy Laurie Krebs and Grazia Restelli

Published by Barefoot Books. Cost: $27.95

Plodding tortoises, courting albatrosses, black

iguanas, red-pouched frigate birds and skipping

lava crabs: these animals are an exotic bunch.

Two companions discover the wildlife first hand

as they set sail on a colourful voyage around the

Galapagos islands. Along the way, children will learn

about this unique part of the world and some new

animals that don’t usually appear in storybooks.

This is a lovely lyrical story with ‘cut-out’

illustrations. Some of the pictures may be a tad

busy and the wording a little complex for younger

children, but still worth pursuing. For bigger kids

there are interesting endnotes about the region and

its creatures—great fodder for project work.

Why do I have to eat off the floor?By Chris Hornsey and Gwyn Perkins

Published by Little Hare. Cost: $24.95

This is a book about rules. The main character,

a dog named Murphy, thinks he’s a person. Not

that unusual really – most pets do. He proceeds

to ask some typical dog/child-like questions such

as ‘Why can’t I dig in the garden?’,

‘Why can’t I sleep in your bed?’

and ‘Why can’t I have pet duck

or an elephant?’ With comical

illustrations and a bent that

small children could identify with,

this is certainly a very cute book.

The only disappointing part is the

conclusion: ‘Dogs are dogs Murphy

and they should always be good.’

Of course a rule is a rule is a rule,

but where’s the adventure in that?

Leadership in early childhood (3rd edition)By Jillian Rodd

Published by Allen & Unwin.

Cost: $39.95

In his preface to Leadership

in early childhood, Associate

Professor Majula Waniganayake

from Macquarie University

quotes Kofi Annan, United

Nations Secretary General:

‘Of all the lessons in the past

decade, the critical role of leadership is perhaps

the most important one to take with us into the

new century. Leadership is imperative if we are

to improve the lives of children, their families and

communities.’

Waniganayake goes on to call Leadership in early

childhood ‘at once timely and empowering’.

Widely used as a professional reference and

a valuable resource for both students and

practitioners, the book is now in its third edition.

It has been fully revised to reflect important

changes affecting leaders in early childhood and

includes new case studies based on an extensive

international study of early childhood leaders.

My New Baby and My PetBy Jeannette Rowe

Published by ABC Books. Cost: $11.95

There’s always a

feeling of wonder

in a flap book and

that’s the wonder

of guessing how

long it will take

enthusiastic little

hands to separate

the flaps from

their story. One

of these books

addresses that problem through a stronger inward

folding picture, but still with all the fun of a foldout.

Nonetheless, both these books are sturdy, bright,

fun and boldly illustrated.

They continue long-time writer and illustrator,

Jeannette Rowe’s series on special family

members; My Mum, My Dad, My Grandad and My

Grandma. My New Baby and My Pet offer 1–4 year

olds reasons why pets and new babies are special

and fun. Each book also contains a space for the

young readers to personalise the book with a

photograph of their own pet or new baby.

Most of these books are available from The Book Garden (02) 9634 2558, or

check with your local bookstore.

Bookworm


Rattler’s literary roundup page,

where we preview what’s new on

the shelves—resources for you

and storytime books for all ages.

By Katie Sutherland & Liz Willis.

One of the delightful drawings in Kolbe's

It's not a bird yet.

Statement of Apology and Commitment to

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

Statement of Apology and Commitment to

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

Community Child Care Co-operative Ltd. (NSW) acknowledges the loss of family, cultural identity, land, language and community of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders through the policies and practices of Australian governments, organisations and people.

We unreservedly apologise for the ongoing suffering and loss that these policies and practices have caused to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, parents, families and communities.


26 May, 1998

Community Child Care Co-operative

Ltd. (NSW)

Our vision at Community Child Care is for children, families and communities of NSW to

have access to a diverse range of quality, affordable children’s services

RESOURCES AND ADVICE

Community Child Care

Co-operative Ltd (NSW)

provides advice and up-

to-date information for

committee members, staff

and families. Please call us to

discuss issues, concerns or

ideas about the operation or

management of your service.

leadership • information • advocacy • management advice • training • publications

TRAININGCommunity Child Care

Co-operative Ltd (NSW) co-

ordinates training sessions

at night, over the weekend or

during the day on a variety of

subjects. Visit our website to

view our training directory, our

current training calendar or

simply call us to discuss.

CONSULTANCY & CUSTOMISED

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTWe offer personalised

consulting on all aspects

of management and early

childhood services operations.

We will identify solutions by

working with you to formulate a

plan of action. Our consultants

also provide customised

professional development

specific to your service or group

of services on any subject.

For more information about Community Child Care Co-operative, call us on: 9560 4771

Or go to our website: www.ccccnsw.org.au

And who are we? We are Children’s Services Central, the new organisation created by:

■ Community Child Care Co-operative■ NSW Family Day Care Association ■ Network of Community Activities ■ Contact Inc■ Child Care NSW■ Ethnic Child Care, Family and Community Services

Co-operative Ltd■ Semann and Slattery Training Consultants.

We have been funded by FaCS to be the Professional Support Co-ordinator (PSC) for Children’s Services in NSW. Children’s Services Central will provide telephone support as well as training and resourcing.

And we’re also there when you need to tell someone you’ve discovered a new way of boosting children’s enthusiasm for play activities or building their self-esteem.

Supporting the provision of quality children’s services

Hut 21, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville NSW 2204Ph: 1800 157 818 Fax: (02) 9560 4781

www.cscentral.org.au

We will make your search for answers in children's services easier.

Will you ring us?We will always try to fi nd the answers you need… We will be: ■ relevant ■ reliable ■ accessible ■ professional ■ and really useful…

Children’s Services Central is a program of The Alliance of Children’s Services.The Professional Support Coordinator is an initiative of the Inclusion and Professional Support Program, funded by the Australian Government.

Phone us on 1800 157 818It’s a Freecall number, so no matter where you ring from in NSW, it won’t cost your service a cent. THIS IS THE NUMBER YOU RING FROM NOW ON, TO GET RESOURCING AND TRAINING. It’s your own help line to support you in all the things you need to know about in children’s services.

Documents

Issue 77, Autumn 2006 Rattler - Community Early Learning ... · Disclaimer The opinions expressed in Rattler are those ... Perhaps the merry monarch was the predecessor to the king