LHMU News
-
COAG national childhood strategy a BIG STEP in the right direction
Thu 02 Jul 09 CommentsLHMU - The childcare union welcomes today's announcement by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) on new national standards for early childhood education and care (ECEC).
-
"Introducing consistent national standards for early childhood education and care will finally bring the Australian childcare sector into the twenty-first century," says Sue Lines, LHMU Assistant National Secretary.
"This signals very clearly that Australia’s governments accept every child has a right to quality care in a learning environment. However, having accepted that right, the Federal Government must now accept the responsibility to fund this sector sustainably and in line with community expectations.
"COAG's announcement confirms the critical role childcare professionals play in delivering this right on behalf of the community.
"We, therefore, need to work urgently with COAG to address the widespread and severe under-recognition of the value of childcare professionals. Without urgently addressing the poor wages paid in this sector and inadequate support to develop their skills the important gains announced today will come to nothing.
"We welcome COAG's adoption of the BIG STEPS in childcare agenda launched by LHMU last June. The proposals announced today have the potential to give this challenging sector a secure and sustainable future by addressing the crisis in quality standards.
“The national standards will ensure families can expect the same baseline of quality education and care no matter which state they live in. They have the potential to improve quality in the sector by mandating:
• Minimum standards in staff-to-children ratios
• Minimum entry requirement of Certificate 3 for every childcare worker in the sector and finally
• Consistent national standards for the regulation and accreditation of quality in every ECEC service
“This announcement confirms Australian governments are moving towards universality in access and quality in ECEC recognising this as every child's right.
“Childcare professionals are central to ensuring this right is met. Our members look forward to working with governments on the best way to implement these changes.
"All of these proposals are bold and exciting but without realistic funding they cannot live up to their promise," says Sue Lines. - RSS Feed View All News Articles
-
Document Actions
