Excerpts
More concerns have been raised about safety at childcare centres, with three-quarters of workers telling a survey their place of work was operating below minimum staffing levels at least weekly.
The United Workers Union survey of 2,100 childcare workers also found that 42 per cent of workers said their centre was operating below minimum staffing levels on a daily basis.
The findings come after the charging of a Melbourne childcare worker with more than 70 offences, including sexual assault, and a long-running ABC investigation revealed examples of profit being placed above care.
...
The for-profit operators that dominate the childcare sector pay staff less and rely more on casual workers, an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation in 2023 found.
"Partly because of understaffing, we see a real churn of staff moving through centres, and that's when we don't have that safe, quality environment we need," Ms Smith said.
The issues highlighted in the ABC investigation echo the UWU survey, which revealed the top four concerns of educators.
...
Widespread abuse of loophole
The UWU survey revealed 83 per cent of workers agreed a common staffing loophole called the "under the roof" ratio was used by centres and compromised the wellbeing of children.
Ratios are designed to ensure a minimum of staff are present at all times to supervise children but the numbers of workers required in each room varies according to the age of the children.
Some staff count all workers "under the roof" rather than numbers in individual rooms required under the National Quality Framework (NQF) and state-based regulators.
...