Big Steps blogs

First News Update for 2013!

Ted Crosby — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 04:32:54 +0000

Find out the latest on the Big Steps campaign -

Click to Read or Download the first Big Steps Newsletter for 2013!

Workforce Strategy Avoids the Big Issues

Kelly Blainey — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 01:30:52 +0000

Brian Newman, Manager Children's Services at the University of Melbourne, discusses the shortfalls in the Workforce Strategy released by DEEWR.

Without fanfare or press conference, DEEWR recently released the National Early Years Workforce Strategy. This is the last plank of the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care and comes four years after COAG began the reform process.

And has it been worth the wait?
Did it warrant a public launch?
Does the document provide a strategy for improving the pay and conditions of the workforce?
Will it inspire early childhood educators, recognising the value of the work?

NO!

This short (by government standards) twenty-page document provides little direction, no way forward, merely iterates current practice, and fails to tackle the ongoing issue of pay and conditions for early childhood educators. Little wonder it was slipped quietly onto DEEWR’s website, so quietly that even DEEWR staff didn’t know it was there!

Page four of the document states:

“Matters such as lower pay and conditions compared to other sectors are recognised as affecting professional status but are outside the scope of the strategy, as they are for employers and employees to negotiate.” (DEEWR, 2012, p.4)

This statement, on the one hand, acknowledges the low pay and poor conditions of early childhood workforce, but then wipes governments’ hands of any responsibility for addressing these ‘matters’.

The dishonesty of this statement is evident in two ways:
Firstly, it ignores that fact the governments and families depend on a low paid workforce to deliver early childhood services cheaply. ‘Childcare workers subsidise childcare through their very low wages, relative to those paid to other workers with comparable levels of skill doing similar work” (Hill, Pollock, et al. 2007). If early childhood educators were properly recompensed for their work, the community – government and families – would face a much larger bill for the services provided.

The statement also assumes that the early childhood workforce has the bargaining power to improve wages and conditions. This ignores the multitude of obstacles that hamper the industrial power of this workforce (Pocock et al, 2008). ‘Academic and other research has consistently shown that the work of child care workers has historically been undervalued due to its feminised nature, its charitable origins and a low rate of unionisation’ (Smith and Lyons, 2006). As well, early childhood services are typically small workplaces that are difficult to organise industrially.

Beyond these factors however, the major inhibitor for exerting industrial power is that those most directly affected by any increase in child care costs are families – the very same families that early childhood educators spend so much effort to build relationships with. Every extra dollar earned by early childhood staff has to be paid by those families. Early childhood educators understand how hard this is for many families, and so are reluctant to press their case for better pay. Bretherton (2010) describes the ‘tension between the high value and importance of the work, and the low remuneration, benefits and status achieved by those actually undertaking the work’, continuing that ‘the intrinsic rewards of the work’ are all you get as ‘the pay and working conditions are typically poor.’

Governments must acknowledge the lack of recognition of the value of the work and undertake to share the increased costs associated with providing decent wages and conditions. This is what any Early Childhood Workforce Strategy needs at its centre, as that is how the workforce will enable Australia to build a quality system of early childhood education and care.

The strategy expects more and more from the workforce – enhanced professionalism and leadership, more highly qualified staff, and enhanced capabilities to meet diverse needs and cross-sector collaboration. This is expecting a lot but providing nothing in return, compounding the exploitation that is well documented and ongoing.

An award for professional practice as is suggested is only useful if it’s an industrial award that delivers better pay and conditions!

In the absence of a plan to provide decent wages and conditions, this strategy’s aims for a workforce that is ‘professional’, ‘growing’, well qualified, ‘responsive’ and ‘collaborative’, will fail, as only through proper recognition, based on fair and reasonable pay levels, will we recruit, train and employ the kind of early childhood educators we need now and into the future.

Brian Newman
Manager Children's Services
The University of Melbourne

References

Bretherton, T.(2010). Workforce development in early childhood education and care, NCVER Research Overview, NVCER. (p.1)

Hill, E., B. Pocock, et al. (2007). Kids count: Better early childhood education and care in Australia, Sydney University Press. (p.31)

Pocock, B., Elton, J., Preston, A., Charelesworth, S., MacDonald, F., Baird, M., Cooper, R., and Ellem, B. (2008). The Impact of ‘Work Choices’ on Women in Low Paid Employment in Australia: A Qualitative Analysis, Journal of industrial Relations, 50(3) 475–488

Smith, M. and Lyons, M. (2006). Crying wolf? Employers, awards, and pay equity in the New South Wales children's services industry, Employment Relations Record, 15.

Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood (2012). Early Years Workforce Strategy: The Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce Strategy for Australia 2012–2016, Education Services Australia.

Parent of the week - Tasmanian Vicki King

Kelly Blainey — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 04:05:20 +0000

In this week’s Parent of the Week, Vicki King writes to her local MP Julie Collins. Vicki has a son with special needs and she is concerned that high staff turnover will have a negative impact on his wellbeing and development.

Dear Minister Collins,

My name is Vicki King and I live in your electorate. I cannot help but support the Big Steps campaign, and the wonderful people in the centre who care for my son. He has special needs due to his autism and cannot cope with change of environment and staff changes, which are happening more often. I now understand why this has been happening, as I’m now aware that these amazing people are only paid $18 per hour! My reaction was—that’s just disgusting!

We as parents are concerned at the growing numbers of staff leaving the child care sector. We need to be reassured that you will talk to our Prime Minister and Treasurer and ask them to fund professional wages in ECEC.

Ask yourself, could you wake up every morning with a smile on your face knowing that you are only paid a mere $18 per hour?
Yours sincerely,

Vicki King

Oak Downs, Tasmania

Like this letter? Want to write your own to your local MP, but don't know where to start? Check out our write to your local MP fact sheet.

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Why I'll be going to National Big Steps Day

Kelly Blainey — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 04:52:50 +0000

Above: Deb smiling in her centre's outdoor area.

It's not just educators and parents who are passionate about Big Steps. Deb works in administration at an early learning centre and she is passionate about seeing educators get the professional wage they deseve.

Deb was annoyed when she found out only seven out of 22 staff at her centre had registered for National Big Steps Day on November 17 - so she typed up this letter to her colleagues and put it up in the staff room.

Read it. Take it in. If you are undecided about November 17, this will help you make up your mind. If Deb, who won't get a payrise out of Big Steps, cares about the future of ECEC - then you can too.

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November 17

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SA's parent of the week writes to Minister

Kelly Blainey — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 00:27:49 +0000

Above: Marketa with her children

This week's inspiring parent of the week comes from Early Childhood and Childcare Minister Kate Ellis' electorate of Adelaide. Marketa Berryman is a parent of three children who have attended Prospect Community Childcare Centre for eight years. Read her letter to the Minister below:

Dear Kate,

I am writing to you as a member of your electorate and a mother of three children who have used Prospect Community Childcare for over 8 years. We feel very lucky because this Childcare Centre has been providing to our children safe, caring and educational environment to grow and develop.

However, I have been always concerned why these carers that work in such an incredibly demanding environment are little rewarded for their hard and so important work.

Unfortunately I have also seen a number of great educators to leave Prospect Community Childcare due to the very low pay they receive.

Being a mother who is committed to a safe, healthy and happy development for my children I see how important particularly these early years of individual child are and I would love to see that these committed people that share the same vision are valued in our community and acknowledged.

Our children are the future or our community and that's why I believe that it is essential that we provide high quality education and care for them when they are completely dependant on us.

I strongly believe that the educators in a childcare and in an after school care deserve to be paid professional wages and that's why I am asking you to please support the Big Steps Campaign so educators will be paid a fair wage so they can continue to educate our next generation.

Thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely
Marketa Berryman

Like this letter? Want to write to your own MP about Big Steps but need some tips? See our writing to MPs fact sheet.The more MPs hear from their constituents how important early childhood education and care and the Big Steps campaign is to them, the more attention they will pay to our issues.

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parents

Queensland's parent of the week

Kelly Blainey — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 03:18:12 +0000

Above: Lee Peardon with her son Jordan. Below: Lee's three sons, Daniel, Jordan and Zac.

This week's parent of the week lives in Treasurer Wayne Swan's electorate of Lilley. Lee worked in ECEC for many years, and she has written to the Treasurer expressing her concern about low wages and high staff turnover in ECEC. You can read the letter below:

Dear Mr Swan,

As a constituent in your area and a parent who uses early childhood education, I would like to bring to your attention the very important role my son’s carers play in his education and development.

I find it appalling that in this day and age people providing such an integral service are not recognised as professionals or receiving a professional wage. Their job covers a wide range of not only educational, but also social and emotional support to each and every child they care for. They also ensure children are ready and confident to take on the huge task of starting prep.

I find it very concerning that wonderful staff are leaving for higher paid jobs such as working on a check out. Our children are our life and precious to every parent so why are our most precious gifts not being treated that way?

Regards,

Lee Peardon
Brisbane, QLD

Like this letter? Want to write your own to your local MP, but don't know where to start? Check out our write to your local MP fact sheet.

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parent of the week

What's sexism got to do with it?

Kelly Blainey — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 23:31:58 +0000

Above: Kate Ellis MP, Minister for Early Childhood and Care

Well, we can at least find some small reason to thank Alan Jones.

The most recent episode of Q&A featured the Minister for Early Childhood Education Kate Ellis treated with derision and disrespect by her three male fellow panelists –and arguably also by the host, Tony Jones, who allowed the Minister to have her answers regularly interrupted and denigrated.

Without the uproar of Alan Jones’ recent comments regarding Julia Gillard, and a climate where this casual sexism is now being increasingly highlighted, this may have been just another episode where a female guests’ opinion was treated as less important than those of the men on the panel. Same old, same old. Another brick in the wall.

Thankfully, the shameful antics of Piers Ackerman, Christopher Pyne and Lindsay Tanner have been rightfully highlighted by a general public who have been forced to confront the serious undercurrent of misogyny still in place in Australian discourse.

So Alan Jones can at least take a bow for causing so much uproar that we are now actively seeing the treatment of women in the public sphere for what it is – a serious problem.

I am not here to defend Kate Ellis. She is accomplished, intelligent and perfectly capable of dealing with the schoolyard antics of three bully boys.

I am here to defend the member of the audience, and those she eloquently represented, who asked Minister Ellis a question about the staffing crisis in Early Childhood Education and Care (childcare).

ECEC is facing a dramatic staff shortage at a time when new regulations have been put in place to improve the quality of care and education offered to Australia’s children. This is a critical and serious issue.

A key factor (yes Christopher Pyne, not the only factor but a significant one) is the shockingly low wages of those who train to educate young children in ECEC settings. As I have discussed before, this is due in no small measure to the perception of the role as “women’s work”.

As Fair Work Australia ruled earlier this year, there is still a large inequity in pay rates between men and women, particularly in the community sector – a sector that is still seen as “women’s work”.

Although ECEC wasn’t a part of this ruling, it is a extreme example of the inequity – women make up 97% of the workforce and are hugely undervalued in the community for the work that Early Childhood educators undertake.

But when this issue was raised on Q&A, rather than allow Minister Ellis to respond and engage with the Early Childhood teacher who had raised it, she was smugly and cheerfully talked over by Ackerman and Pyne.

Now, this will of course by shrugged off as the “rough and tumble” of politics, and no doubt Minister Ellis has (and unfortunately will) endured worse. But for the person who asked the question, and those like myself who support her, it is yet another casual example of the lack of interest and respect for the work we do.

Educating and caring for young children would still be a challenging and difficult job even if we were paid like Government MPs. Despite what one elected representative would have us believe, it is not enough to just “do it for the love of it”.

If the panelists were serious about challenging notions of sexism and misogyny in the community, and within education specifically, they would have had an actual debate about the issues.

There could have been a lively debate about the Coalition’s plans for ECEC (beyond simply rolling back the regulations). We could have discussed the Government’s increase in funding to the sector, but the lack of impact that has had in reducing staff turnover.

The idea of having that debate was exciting to those of us who tuned in to Q&A on Monday night. Our voices don’t often get heard, and the debates are usually only about fees and waiting lists. This could have been a wonderful opportunity to actually engage with the substantive issues facing the sector.

Instead, because childcare is “women’s work”, and also because the Minister with responsibility for the sector is a woman, it quickly degenerated into farce. Early Childhood Education and Care has always been the victim of this casual sexism, and it will take a concerted effort on the part of our leaders to change that.

So a big round of applause for Lindsay Tanner, Christopher Pyne and Piers Ackerman. I hope you felt your cheap, political point-scoring was worth ignoring and undermining the serious issues that face the Early Childhood Education and Care sector.

The passionate Early Childhood teacher who asked the question deserved a lot better than that.

Liam McNicholas is a husband, father and Early Childhood Education and Care advocate. He has worked in the ECEC sector in the ACT as an educator and director for nearly ten years. You can read his personal blog here.

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Parent of the week - Victoria

Kelly Blainey — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 03:30:16 +0000

Above: Bobbi with son Chase and husband Ben.

Our parent of the week this week is Bobbi Johnston, who lives in the Prime Minister's electorate of Lalor with her husband and son. Her son Chase attends long day care in the electorate, and Bobbi is concerned about the impact of high staff turnover on her family. She has written to Prime Minister Gillard, asking her to address the staffing crisis by funding professional wages for educators.

If you support Big Steps, why not write to your local MP, telling them why they should support Big Steps too.

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parent of the week

quality

turnover

Big Steps' parent of the week

Kelly Blainey — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 02:17:55 +0000

Above: Catherine Beal with her son, Eamon, who attends Goodstart Ashfield

Are you a parent who supports Big Steps? Did you see the last couple of blog posts that highlighted parents' letters to their local MPs in support of the Big Steps campaign?

We had such a positive response to those letters, and have seen so many fantastic new letters written by parent supporters, that we decided to start a parent of the week post.

Our first parent of the week comes from Goodstart Ashfield in Sydney. When Catherine Beal wrote about why she supports Big Steps, so many other parents from the centre agreed with her sentiments that they also signed the letter! Local MP Anthony Albanese is due to receive a letter from a group of nearly 100 Goodstart Ashfield parents and other campaign supporters calling for professional wages for educators. Well done Catherine!

Read Catherine's letter here (PDF).

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parent of the week

quality

quality childcare

Big Steps: have no fear

Kelly Blainey — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 02:37:37 +0000

Recently in my work with the Big Steps campaign I was given the opportunity to visit many local Long Day Care services in the Penrith area, and I was honestly surprised by the amount of “owner fear” we encountered at the locations we visited (and at the ones who wouldn’t even let us in the door).

It brought me to wonder, what kind of people own childcare centres? Who are these people that so many grown women (and a scant few men) seem to fear repercussions from, just for discussing a campaign to win them professional wages and recognition?

To be clear, the Big Steps campaign is lobbying the government for wage subsidies and professional recognition, this campaign does not expect more money to come from centre owners or parents.

I came to realise that the owners seemed to have their own fear, “union fear”. We were visiting private centres, run by small business owners who have taken a blow this year due to many regulatory changes, and they are fearful that this campaign will stir up nothing but more costs for them.

This misunderstanding of the Big Steps campaign from owners and educators alike brought home for me the urgency and enormity of our mission. The very people we’re campaigning for don’t understand what is happening!

Our industry has been overwhelmed with change in 2012. We have been bombarded with a new Law, new Regulations, a new national curriculum, a new quality standard and new minimum qualifications. In the face of all of this, on top of everything we already do in educating and caring for children under the age of five, the minimum qualified wage for Early Childhood Education & Care educators is $18.58 per hour (unskilled labourers can earn $30 p/h!). At my own centre we employ a young woman who already holds a Certificate III, but because she is training for her Diploma currently, her pay is $9.50 per hour.

So to my fellow educators I have to ask, what do we have to fear except this lack of professional recognition and wages continuing for many years to come?

To the centre owners I ask, with 180 educators leaving the sector every week, with high staff turn over and exorbitant stress levels, what exactly do you have to fear from this campaign?

Cassandra Way holds a Diploma in Children's Services and has worked in the ECEC sector for five years. She recently became the Big Steps convenor for the NSW electorate of Lindsay.

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