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EXCERPTS
More than a dozen child-care centres in Sydney have too few staff, or staff that are underqualified.
Data obtained from the Department of Community Services under freedom of information laws shows that inadequate staffing levels are most common with the youngest and most vulnerable children.
A former head of the department's Office of Child Care said cost was winning over quality in child care and the system lacked transparency.
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Five child-care centres in Sydney were in breach of the rule that there should be at least one carer for every five infants under the age of two, the department's data shows.
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The data also shows that two centres had one carer looking after more than eight two-year-olds. One centre breached the rule that there should be at least one carer for every 10 children between the ages of three and six. Underqualified teaching staff were found at 11 centres.
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Three years ago, the then minister for community services, Carmel Tebbutt, considered reducing the number of babies per carer, in line with expert opinion.
It did not happen because Ms Tebbutt feared it would result in fewer child-care places and increased fees. "Independent analysis … showed it could result in 600 places being withdrawn from supply. This is about 5 to 6 per cent of licensed places for children under two," she said in 2004.
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The department's executive director of child protection and early intervention, Linda Mallett, said a taskforce set up to develop strategies for reducing the ratio to one carer for every four infants was expected to report soon.
- reprinted from the Sydney Morning Herald