Childcare – Quality as well as Quantity
This week’s budget aimed to give parents of young children what they desperately want – more access to childcare. While this means demand for childcare workers should rise, they still remain among the lowest paid of professionals. Lisa Sigala says she loves her job but people don’t realise that childcare workers are doing the same job as teachers. Liz Pearce from the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers’ Union says childcare workers stand to lose much of the little they have gained in pay and conditions under the new Fair Pay Commission. Child psychologist Dr John Irvine has done a survey which found that parents are so desperate to get their children minded that they’re not considering the quality of that minding. He says childcare should become part of the community, like school, and should be recognised for its crucial role.