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 | Information | Data | Productivity Commission Recommendation |
| Poor job design | It 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 education | Gaining 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 status | Due 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 wages | Low 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.
