Key Points
- The ongoing crisis in the early education sector deepens as workers continue to leave, a report shows.
- A former early educator said that low pay and overwork were the main reasons driving people away.
- A national negotiation over pay rises for early childcare sector is underway.
Tracy Lei said she was stunned when she realised she was the most senior staff member at an early learning centre in Orange, New South Wales, having been there only a year.
After all, she had only graduated with a diploma the year prior.
She said she had witnessed all educators before her leave and the manager change three times before Ms Lei decided after two years, it was also time for her to resign, citing work stress, low wages and lack of recognition.
The pay is quite low compared to the office work I applied for later.Tracy Lei, former early educator
The latest conducted by the United Workers Union (UWU) states that educators continue to leave as the ongoing staffing crisis in the early learning industry deepens.
About 95 per cent of the nearly 1,000 Australian early childhood centres that participated in the survey say they have had staff leave in the past 12 months and, of those, 78 per cent have had more than three educators leave.
After two years in the early education industry, Tracy Lei quit her job last year. Credit: Tracy Lei
Educators 'put off' by low wages
The industry’s notoriously low wages and burnout were the primary reasons why early childhood educators left the sector, Ms Lei said.
“You are paid more working in a restaurant or supermarket and the workload isn't as intense,” she added.
Wages start from $26.18 per hour for those who have qualified with a Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care (Level 3.1), and educators receive a minimal increase to $27.09 per hour after working one year.
of the workforce have a bachelor’s degree, which guarantees them an entry-level position minimum salary of $67,513 per year.
Ms Lei said the salary educators earned was "extraordinarily" disproportionate to the labour they put into the role.
“You have to be (alert) all the time, even if there is just one kid in the room,” she said.
It's really stressful both physically and mentally.Tracy Lei, a former early educator
Latest pay rate in the Early Childhood Education Sector in Australia. Source: SBS
Short-staffing means children are 'at risk'
Centres across Australia are struggling to fill thousands of available positions as educators change their careers.
The shows that 91 per cent of the centres surveyed had current staff vacancies and, of those, half of them had three or more current vacancies.
Childcare educators say the safety of young children is being compromised by severe staff shortages across the sector, leading to increased injuries to children.
Two-thirds of respondents in the report felt that staffing shortages had affected children's well-being or safety, and nearly a quarter felt that children's safety was now "at risk".
Earlier this year, a 10-week-old baby was in the face at a Melbourne CBD centre when the educator was allegedly changing another child’s nappy.
Linjing Guo, a Melbourne-based educator with 12 years of experience, told SBS Chinese she found it unsurprising that children were getting injured given the staffing constraints.
Linjing Guo said there was significant pressure on early childhood educators with the current staff-to-child ratios. Source: SBS / Shan Kou
If one child went to the bathroom, the educator accompanied them, resulting in a second educator temporarily in charge of the remaining 21 children, she added.
“We are actively supervising children, but there's no way we have eyes on all of them at once,” she said.
We'd be able to take better care of each child only if the ratio could be improved.Linjing Guo, early childhood educator
Iris Huang, who has been an early childcare educator for a decade, told SBS Chinese that staff shortages left her with little time to prepare curriculum plans based on individual need, which she said affected the quality of her teaching.
"Educational program planning is critical for every child and includes reflection on their past development and planning for their future educational needs," she said.
"But there is no way you can do it when you're short on staff."
Iris Huang (middle) says she believes that the quality of children's education suffers because of staff shortages. Source: SBS / Shan Kou
Government incentives
A Department of Education spokesperson stated in an email to SBS Chinese that the government was taking action to address Australia’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce shortage.
The government's Fee-Free TAFE program is helping encourage people into the sector, with the Certificate III in ECEC the second most popular Fee-Free TAFE course across the country, the spokesperson said.
Since coming to Government, the ECEC sector has grown by more than 14,000 workers, and there are over 120,000 educators and teachers in the training pipeline, the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government’s $72.4 million ECEC workforce package is helping to retain the existing highly skilled early learning workforce.
Victoria University, a training provider under the free TAFE scheme, said 320 students had enrolled in the Certificate III or Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care in 2023.
“Despite the government’s free TAFE initiative, the number of people interested in studying early childhood at a Certificate III and/or Diploma level is decreasing,” a spokesperson from the University stated.
The spokesperson told SBS Chinese that burnout was a significant issue in the sector and called for more government and industry support so workplaces could be funded sufficiently to allow educators and teachers more time out and off.
Childcare educators protest what they claim are unreasonable conditions in the sector. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts
A silver lining?
UWU’s Early Childhood director, Helen Gibbons, said that, “there is a crisis in early education”, and “the only way to turn this sector around is to start to pay educators what they are worth”.
The Union is pursuing a 25 per cent pay increase for early educators to address inflation rates and the rising cost of living.
"We look forward to the Federal Government living up to its commitment to getting wages moving again in a historically undervalued sector," Ms Gibbons told SBS Chinese.
In November, educators' bargaining negotiations were joined by federal government representatives for the first time, but no official agreements have been reached so far.
“Pay us what we’re worth, or centres won’t stay open next year,” Ms Gibbons said in a after the negotiation.
The Department of Education spokesperson said that the Government welcomed the ECEC-supported bargaining application and would continue to assist with the Fair Work Commission processes as required.
“A supported, valued workforce is critical to making ECEC more accessible and affordable for Australian families,” the spokesperson added.
