Childcare needs reforming
According to the ABC childcare is a 20 billion dollar sector in Australia, so why are parents paying upwards of $150 a day whilst children are being fed meals worth as little as 33c? In my experience centre chefs must feed children an healthy and fulling meal, this can be done in a number of ways. I’ve seen a 2.5x2.5cm pice of lasagna per child served with cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes and rice to stretch out a tiny food budget across 100 children a day. Or baked beens with toasted pita breads and some cheese called vegetarian nachos. Childcare centres will do anything to make whatever there feeding your child sound good to the parents paying for it. Often for poor quality meals that barely meet requirements.
The truth is that for-profit childcares will do anything to pad out there own pockets. Lets look at the care your child is receiving. Ratio of staff to children is great in theory, however when the regulations are loose and centres can apply for poorly enforced waivers it effectively eliminates the need to staff for minimum ratio requirements .’Temporary’ ratio relaxations that can be used frequently rather than actually enforcing minimum ratio. It should work like this, children:
Under 2 years have a minimum ratio of 1 educator to 4 children
Between 2 and 3 have a minimum ratio of 1 educator to 5 children
3 or older have a minimum ratio of 1 educator to 11 children
In a room of 22 4-6 year olds, I would have 2 staff and 5 or so children with undiagnosed additional needs that will need extra support to engage in the routine. In a room of 4 children under the age of one I’d be flying solo, do either of those situations sound safe for anyone? Some for-profit centres hire extra staff to assist in these situations, but that’s rare and more often than not educators are left to deal with everything on there own. Some for-profit centres also practice under-the-roof ratio counts, again legal but lets look at the practice. Under-the-roof ratio is where children and staff are counted as one big unit as opposed to where they physically are. So long as you in theory have enough staff in the centre to meet ratio, it doesn’t actually matter where the staff or children are so long as an educator remains with them. If you has 13 3+yo, 10 2yo and 2 >2yo that’s 4 staff often spread out across 3 separate areas and often to the disadvantage of the children.
The government is pumping money into the sector too. 14 billion in subsidised fees, another 5 billion in educator wage support with very few if any strings attached which helps who? Childcare centres are constantly putting their fees up and unless you happen to work for one of the major players who got in early, chances are you haven’t received government wage support, even if your company has submitted the correct paperwork. The award rate for your typical certificate 3 qualified educator is $28.99/hour which may be on the rise but isn’t yet. Centre managers are pressured to keep costs low and profit high in an sector that cares for some of the most venerable people in our society, should we really be making a profit off of our kids? At the end of the day, its a crap system that looks after its investors, not the children at the centre of it.
Everyone who works on the ground knows that the system needs reform, from the centre directors tasked with squeezing every drop of profit out of there centre with no priority given to the children or the educators on the floor. A system allows parents to be charged fees that don’t always correlate to the amount of money it actually costs for the centre to care for the child is not doing its job. Its a broken system and well beyond all repair however reforms don’t look likely when the people being asked to change would be loosing millions in doing so. It’s not all doom and gloom, there are some for-profit centres who put policies in place against some of the sketchy practices outlined above, you just need to ask the right questions. Do you use under the roof ratio counts? How much are you spending on my Childs meals? Centre ratings are still a good place to start to. The higher the rating the more likely the centre is to have policies in place to protect your children, not hurt them.
Last but not least, the activity of the week:
Chia seed slime, a great taste safe textured goo that can be adjusted to meet your messiest desire. Pair with scooping tools such as spoons, measuring cups, maybe pompoms and plastic animals. You will need:
1 part chia seeds
2 parts water
Food die (optional)
Mix the chia seeds and water together and leave for at least 2 hours although preferably over night. Then adjust the thickness to meet your needs, to thick add more water, to thin add more chia seeds. Take the mixture outside to reduce the clean up, in your back yard would be preferable.