EXCERPTS
The job listings tell the tale: throughout Australia, hundreds of childcare centres are advertising for qualified workers, but there simply aren't enough. And even the industry's most enthusiastic training advocates admit there will still be a skills shortage next year when new federal government reforms make professional qualifications compulsory.
By January 1 next year, staff-to-child ratios for looking after children aged under three increase from 1:5 to 1:4 and from 1:15 in the preschool rooms to 1:11, which means centres must either reduce places or put on extra staff.
By January 1, 2014, every childcare worker in Australia must have, at a minimum, a certificate III qualification. Half the staff must have at least a TAFE childcare diploma. And every single childcare centre must have a degree-qualified teacher on site all day.
Victoria's 1141 long-day-care centres already compete for qualified staff, as state regulations introduced in May 2009 require all new childcare employees to have certificate III as a minimum. Yet three out of 10 childcare workers in Victoria - 5716 workers - still have no qualifications, according to a 2010 workforce census. Only untrained staff with five years' continuous full-time experience or 10 years' part-time experience have until January 2014 to get qualified. All others must at least start formal training by January 1. Less than half of Victorian childcare workers [43.5 per cent] have diploma-level qualifications.
There are now 29,494 unqualified childcare workers who must get their certificates in the next 2 1/2 years.
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- reprinted from The Age