Is the move to learn-and-earn models in some industries the right move? – comment by CEO, Jenny Dodd

What a horrible couple of weeks it has been in the Early Childhood Education and Care industry. It is hard to fathom how difficult it must be for all those families who have been impacted by the Victorian childcare worker who has been charged with child abuse. As professionals who educate for this industry and as members of the community, we are all shocked and saddened by these events.

I am sure most of you will have engaged with the media reporting that surrounds this situation. Most of the media reporting has involved teacher qualifications for early childhood education delivered primarily by universities. If you watched the ABC 7.30 report on Monday last week there were significant differences between the universities offering qualifications in early childhood education. Noting that within our network of TAFEs there are high-quality degrees, for example, the three-year Bachelor of Early Childhood Education offered by Melbourne Polytechnic.

However, what of our vocational education and training sector? As we know the minimum qualification to work in an early childcare centre is the Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care.

A quick review of training.gov.au suggests that there are 430 providers offering this qualification. Of those 430 providers, only 28 are TAFEs or dual sector universities. Of course, there are many high-quality providers in the rest of the 400 plus, many of whom are not-for-profit community providers. However, with numbers as high as this it is also likely that there are some that are providing less than quality outcomes.

We know that there are some poor providers because at least one has been subject to ASQA’s recent regulatory actions. In the last year, ASQA has undertaken regulatory action against several providers. One of the providers on the front page of their website was offering qualifications in early childhood education and care. These qualifications have been cancelled.

The Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care can be offered as a traineeship. The traineeship model is one a few TAFE providers engage with and mix it with off the job training. However, it is often the preferred and only model of other providers. Questions need to be asked whether this model of learning provides sufficient awareness of the standards other employers expect and accept?

While industry is desperate for workers in this ever-growing industry, is the investment in up-front training sufficient before such entry level workers engage with babies and young children? With the push to grow the learn-and-earn models, do we need to be cautious about industries, like early childhood education and care, where there is high human impact, especially for those just entering the industry?

However, an alternative perspective is that Early Childhood Education and Care providers who are training their own workforce are very likely to ensure that they are offering permanent work. That alone can be a good thing in these industries where often the problems can occur through high levels of casualisation and workers moving between employers.

In an industry where there are so many providers of education, what could be the mechanisms to identify and weave out potential problem workers?

What is heartening is the significant investment being made in early childhood education and care through the work of the TAFE Centre of Excellence. Watch this space for the innovation, qualification development, partnerships, quality education, and new thinking coming out of the TAFE SA Early Childhood Education and Care Centre of Excellence. You will be able to hear more from them at a TAFETalks towards the end of the year.