Orange's childcare and education industry facing pressure as demand continues to grow

The industry is amid a nation-wide staffing crisis and while Orange's new centres will reportedly be capable of providing an additional 247 places, that will rely on stable staffing levels to meet the required educator-to-children ratios.

However research continues to show disproportionate numbers of early educators are leaving the profession for alternative careers offering higher pay and better conditions, with many burning out soon after entering the industry.

With turnover rates reaching as high as 30 per cent in recent years, workforce projections from 2019 also estimated the industry would require 39,000 additional educators and teachers to meet increasing demand by the year 2024.

Those estimates, from the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, didn't consider the impact of COVID-19 either.

Orange's Belinda Downey, a former early childhood teacher and now university lecturer, is firmly of the opinion new centres are necessary to alleviate demand but conditions causing turnover need to be addressed holistically, without 'band-aid solutions'.

"The issue is the industry has a higher demand than it [can support]. ACECQA's workforce report showed there's 39,000 jobs we're going to need to fill within that sector (by 2024) and that doesn't take the pandemic into account," she said.

"They're just not getting the numbers they need or if they do have the educators in the workforce they leave because of the conditions, particularly the teachers, there's a pay disparity of about $20,000 between early childhood and school (teachers).

"So even if you get them qualified they choose to go and work in schools because there's better pay and better conditions. Even though it's education in general that is struggling, the legislative and regulatory requirements are far greater in childcare.

"Everyone who enters the industry does it for the right reasons but it takes a toll emotionally, and physically. What educators get paid and the conditions they're in don't value the job they do, so a lot of them get burnt out quite quickly."

Ms Downey said the problem doesn't have a simple solution, however pointed to 2007 reforms under the Rudd government as 'a start', child care is expected to be a key issue in the next federal election too.

The federal government announced additional funding to deliver a Strategic Reform Agreement as part of its most-recent budget too, which included an investment to reduce the cost of childcare for eligible families.

That was framed in part as a boost for women's participation in the workforce, although it's benefit for the early-childhood workforce remains in question considering government numbers show 95 per cent of the workforce are women.

"So many of those in the industry need to utilise it themselves and childcare isn't cheap," Ms Downey said.

"So we need it to be affordable in itself just to allow those people to return to the workforce, but the conditions and pay need to be better in order for them to stay in that workforce so it's a bit of vicious cycle, really.

"Research shows the services that provide the best conditions for educators also provide the best levels of care, and our kids need the highest level of care they can get but families can't always afford that.

"There's no simple answer but the industry needs more support as a whole."

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