September.24.2024

Here are five ways the government could demolish barriers to early learning

By Marg Rogers

The Final Report from the Productivity Commission (PC) into Early Childhood Education and Care was released last week. This is the second in our two-part series unpacking the Commission’s proposed road map for universal access to early learning.

Yesterday: Early learning – Every child deserves access now. Here’s how we can make that happen

Today, we look at the barriers.

To implement Productivity Commission recommendations for early learning, the Government needs to attract, support, and retain educators to ensure the workability of these reforms. In this article, I outline the barriers facing educators, including poor job design, the high cost of higher education, low status and wages, and the burden of regulatory requirements as shown in the figure below.

Figure 1: Barriers to opportunity for early learning in Australia

For each of these barriers, I provide information from reports, government departments,
agencies, and organisations. To illustrate this, I also provide either data from our mixed
methods online survey study involving 82 Australian educators or, where indicated, publicly
available data. A summary of what the PC said is in the final column.

Barriers to
early learning
InformationDataProductivity Commission
Recommendation
Poor job designIt is puzzling to
understand why schools in
Australia are equipped
with administrative
officers, grounds people
and cleaners, but early
learning services are not.
Educators study child
development, philosophies
of learning, ways to
support children’s
learning, curriculum
assessment, planning and
evaluation and how to best
support families. Then
they enter the workforce
and are expected to spend
inordinate amounts of
time cleaning and filling
in forms. It is a waste of
their time and talents.
Additionally, the time
allocated to filling out all
the forms would be
adequate if they were in a
private office rather than
while they are educating a
room full of children. The
amount of time doesn’t
take into consideration if
they are short staffed.
“Washing and folding
laundry is NOT
something you learn in
an education
qualification …
educators spend a lot of
time (and constantly
hounded by
management) to do
tasks that in other
workplaces would
require [a] cleaner”.
(Educator)
“Most adults would
struggle to fill in legal
paperwork while also
supervising children
attempting risky
climbing, playing
games, drinking a
bottle, putting small
parts in their mouth.”
(Educator)
The PC states
further award
increases must
improve their pay
and conditions to
align with school
teachers.
High cost of higher educationGaining the qualifications
required to be an early
childhood educator takes a
toll on educators’ time,
energy, and budget. While
the Government is now
funding practicums, and
some state and territory
governments are offering
fee-free places, the educator must provide the time and
energy to study.
This can mean fewer days
working or sacrifices to
their health, social life,
and relationships.
“Educators are being
rushed through
traineeships to meet
DoE requirements, so
are ECT[s]!”
(Educator)
“I would love to do
more but don’t have the hours in the day. I
exercise each morning
at 6am before I start
work.” (Educator)
The PC asks for
more support for
student educators
in general terms.
Low statusDue to their links to
motherhood, another
underappreciated role,
early childhood educators
are less respected than
school teachers in
Australian society, even
though they may be just as
qualified. Those teaching
younger age groups can be
more affected. Studies
link low status with
educator burnout.
“I was in a centre
where staff weren’t
valued. Relationships
were for show”.
(Educator)
“Cleaners can earn
more than I do, and yet
I studied for 2 years for
a diploma to earn just
$32hr. We are
sacrificed so that other
women can go to work
and earn a high wage.”
(Educator)
The PC
recommends
standardising
school teacher
and early
childhood
educator
registration to
improve
recognition.
Low wagesLow wages mean
educators struggle to pay
their bills and enjoy a
reasonable quality of life.
This impacts their health
and wellbeing and their
feelings of burnout. The
increase of 15% helps, but
does not mean their pay is
in line with school teacher
salaries for early
childhood teachers with
the same qualifications.
“I earn $30 per hour as
a qualified ECT with a
degree – my 17-year-
old daughter is in high
school and gets the
same amount of money,
as a swimming
instructor”. (Educator)
The PC states
further award
increases must
improve their pay
to align with
school teachers.
Burdensome
regulatory
requirements
Educators spend much of
their day filling in forms
to prove they are
providing high quality
education and care.
Administrative overload
was one of the three
reasons given by
educators who reported
they wanted to leave the
sector early.
“Yes, we need
paperwork but we also
need to be there for the
children, staff get
overwhelmed with all
the paperwork required
and training that needs
to be done during a
work day and there is
never enough time to do
everything so a lot of
staff do things at
home”. (Educator)
The PC calls for
reducing the
administrative
burden for
applying for
inclusion support
funding but
disappointingly,
not for other
aspects of their
work.

What governments must do

The Government will need to consider the PC’s recommendations carefully and it could also heed the advice of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP). Professor Nitin Kapur, President of the RACP’s Paediatric and Child Health Division, said the RACP was pleased to see the PC recognise the importance of access to high-quality learning and care in the early years of a child’s life.

“As experts in children’s health and wellbeing, we have long advocated for universal access to early childhood education and care because we recognise the profound positive impact it can have on children’s lives.

“Access to high-quality learning and care in the early years can help boost health, social andcognitive development outcomes for children, and ensure that they start school ready.

To stem the flow of educators out of the sector, entice educators back, and attract more, they need a range of measures to improve educators’ working conditions. Our educators deserve much better.

Marg Rogers is a senior lecturer in early childhood education at UNE and a postdoctoral fellow at the Manna Institute.

Republish this article for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence.

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