Community Child Care Co-op
September 2010
Why consultation matters
Hearing advocates call for more consultation or better consultation is nothing new. Community
Child Care Co-operative often calls on all levels of government to consult with children’s
services over proposed policy changes which will affect early education and care services.
Generally, this is because we know that consultation
can help bureaucracies and governments make
better-informed policy decisions.
Consultation enables government to gain
information from the sector; check their
assumptions; hear new ideas and solutions; and
gain broad views on possible policy solutions. It also
highlights potential problems early on so that they
can be corrected before policy becomes legislation.
Consultation also encourages sector ownership of
any new policy development and, therefore, also
increases a commitment to the outcome.
Sometimes, when the Commonwealth Government
introduces new policy that relates to children’s
services, they get the consultation right. An
example of this is the implementation of the
Child Care Management System (CCMS). Prior to
establishing the laws and processes around CCMS,
the responsible bureaucrats went out to services
across the country—from large city services to
small remote services—to assess how services were
currently preparing Child Care Benefit returns and
to ensure the bureaucrats themselves understood
what impact the changed processes would have on
a range of children’s services.
Somehow, this willingness to learn from the
sector, to use the wealth of knowledge that
the sector has about our own processes and
mechanisms, has been overlooked in the National
Quality Framework (NQF) implementation. The
three main mechanisms for consultation that have
been established so far for the NQF have been
the establishment of a National Reference Group,
various ‘consultation sessions’ and a promise
that there will be a consultation period before the
adoption of the new nationally consistent regulation.
The people who are on the National Reference
Group are stopped by confidentiality requirements
(continued on page 3)
Broadside
Briefings
Vale
Margaret
Chase OAM
The late Margaret Chase made a huge
contribution to the field of early childhood,
holding a range of positions in the sector.
Margaret held a senior role with KU Children's
Services, then known as the Kindergarten Union
of NSW, as it was at the time. She was also a very
active member (at both state and national level) of the
Australian Preschool Association, which then became
the Australian Early Childhood Association and is now
Early Childhood Australia.
Margaret was head-hunted by the NSW Government
into a role to set up and lead the first early childhood
advisory service in what was then the Department of
Youth and Community Services. Prior to this date, the
checking of the Children’s Services Regulation was
done by welfare offices and so the provision of an early
childhood advisory service was a huge step forward.
Margaret was involved with Uniting Care Burnside
for well over 20 years, serving on the Board
of Directors for nine years with three years as
Chairperson.
She is also remembered as a mentor and supporter
of young professionals. Tonia Godhard AM said that:
‘Margaret was a mentor and supporter of young
professionals—she encouraged me in many ways as
did others of her generation. Personally, I owe them a
great debt for their encouragement and interest with
their strong professional values of the rights of young
children and their families.’
Trying to work out fees for next year?
Community Child Care has been contacted by a number of services trying to determine their
fee structure for next year and wondering about the Teacher Costs Contribution Scheme and if
it is definitely going ahead.
Basically, Community Services is still establishing the
funding mechanisms for the Scheme but the intent is
roughly as follows:
➤ The exact subsidy amounts for the first year of the
Scheme will be confirmed in early 2011. (It will
probably be the $6,000 for a full-time three-year
trained teacher and $8,000 for a full-time four-year
trained teacher as already announced).
➤ Services will receive the subsidy for the number of
ECT positions employed, up to the capped number.
The cap will be based on the number of ECTs
required by the Children’s Services Regulation 2004,
according to the number of places for which the
service is licensed.
➤ Once the framework for the Scheme is formalised,
Community Services will issue information about the
application process in the first half of 2011. Information
will be published in newsletters such as Building
Blocks and on the Community Services website.
➤ From August 2011, the annual data collection will
constitute the application process for the Scheme
for all children’s services.
KU annual seminar
Upcoming training
KU Children's Service's Annual Seminar is to be held
on Saturday 30 October 2010 at Sydney Showground,
Homebush Bay. KU welcomes all early childhood
educators to be part of its seminar program, which
has been running for more than two decades. Keynote
speakers include Nairn Walker and Anne Stonehouse
and a range of workshops are planned. The cost for
non-KU staff is $150 for the day.
Menu Planning – Plan and Evaluate Meals and
Menus to meet Recommended Dietary and Cultural
Needs (HLTNA302B): GOULBURN – Thu, 14 Oct 2010
For more information go to
www.ku.com.au/ku-annual-seminar.aspx
Food Safety – Follow Basic Food Safety Practices
(HLTFS207B): GOULBURN – Thu, 14 Oct 2010
Compliance and Quality – Keeping Up to Date
with Legislation and Regulation (WEBINAR): Fri, 15 Oct
2010 and Fri, 29 Oct 2010
Accreditation for Long Day Care – The Journey,
Not the Destination: RICHMOND – Thu, 21 Oct 2010
To book into these courses please go to
www.cscentral.org.au
2 Broadside • September 2010 | Community Child Care Co-operative Ltd. (NSW)
Why consultation matters
(continued from front page)
from providing feedback to their organisations and
are not allowed any time to canvass their members’
opinion on the issues that are discussed at their
meetings. The various consultations sessions that
have been held to date have been in the format of
information sessions or lectures. And we now hear
that even the consultation period for the regulation
will be during the period when most services are
closed—December to January!
At the Community Child Care Election Forum
prior to the recent federal election, Kate Ellis was
asked whether her party would commit to real
consultation with children’s services about the
National Quality Framework. Ms Ellis said that she
was: ‘very interested in hearing from the sector
if there are ways then we can be consulting over
implementation, which you believe would be more
effective, then I’m all ears’. She said she ‘absolutely
recognise[d] that when you’re
going through this stage of
reform you’ve got to do it in
partnership’.
Community Child Care
would like to suggest, at
a minimum, the National Reference Group could
be freed from confidentiality constraints and the
regulation comment period should be extended over
a wider period. Community Child Care also believes
that it is vitally important for the bureaucrats
implementing the changes to talk directly to
practitioners about what will and won’t work at
service level—as at the end of the day, it is early
education and care services who need to make
the NQF work. Consultation will really assist with
gaining that commitment to the changes.
WHO’S IN ChaRge
New law to
set up NQF
The Education and Care Services National
Law Bill 2010 has been introduced into the
Victorian Parliament. This is the bill which
will form the basis for the establishment of
the National Quality Framework.
With Julia Gillard’s announcement of her
new Ministry, two people have been named
with responsibility for our sector. Kate Ellis,
our previous Minister, is now the Minister
for Employment Participation and Childcare,
while Peter Garret is now Minister for
Schools, Early Childhood and Youth.
What does this mean for children? Having Early
Childhood elevated to a cabinet level position
shows the importance that the Prime Minister
places on policy issues connected with children.
What does it mean for children's services? This is
not yet clear. This is not yet totally clear but both
Ministers have given clear messages that they do
not see this as a division between education and
care, and in fact see having two Ministers on the
area as recognition of the importance the Gillard
Government places on early education and care.
They have acknowledged they need to determine
their individual responsibilities but stated they will be
working closely together.
The law sets out the objectives and guiding principles
of the National Quality Framework and defines
which services are subject to it. It also establishes a
national system of approvals to provide and operate
an education and care service and to be a certified
supervisor. It also sets out the process for assessing
and rating services against the National Quality
Standard and provides for a system of appeals and
reviews of decisions relating to assessments and
ratings. The law also outlines the tools that may be
used to ensure compliance with the law.
The law also establishes the Australian Children's
Education and Care Quality Authority and sets out its
functions, including oversight of the National Quality
Framework, reporting to the Ministerial Council
and Regulatory Authorities, provision of advice, and
information management. The law also sets out the
functions of the Regulatory Authorities, which include
approving providers and services, certifying supervisors,
assessing and rating services, and monitoring
compliance with the National Quality Framework, the
National Quality Standard, the Education and Care
Services National Law, and the national regulations. The
law also provides for transition from existing legislative
and regulatory arrangements to the new arrangements.
3 Broadside • September 2010 | Community Child Care Co-operative Ltd. (NSW)
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15-hours
update
Community Child Care Co-operative is aware
that some services, especially preschools, are
concerned about how they are going to fill the
requirement to offer 15 hours of preschool
access to children in the year before school.
The National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood
Education specifies that children, 12 months prior to
full-time schooling, should have access to a preschool
program for 15 hours a week, 40 weeks a year. The
Bilateral Agreement on Achieving Universal Access to
Early Childhood Education between the Commonwealth
and the NSW Government specifies 15 hours/2.5 days
access as a deliverable.
Community Services has confirmed to Community
Child Care that: ‘the broad aim is to achieve 600 hours
of access in the year prior to school, delivered in no less
than two days per week’.
This means that preschools would have the option
of providing two days of 7.5 hours attendance or of
achieving the 600 hours in some other way.
Community Child Care is aware that some preschools
have looked at their service specification, which states
that they have to offer 2.5 days and may also have had
this confirmed by Community Services staff.
Community Services has confirmed that the 2.5 days
could be negotiable and that ‘the only limiting factor on
whether a children’s service wants to increase its service
delivery capacity is the licensing regime’.
Community Services is currently engaging in
consultations with the sector about the universal access
commitment and in particular about possibilities for
achieving the 15-hour goal. Community Child Care is part
of that consultation process. Many of our members have
contacted us with concerns about a 2.5-day model and we
will ensure Community Services hears these concerns.
We wish to remind services that the goal of achieving
the 15 hours of universal access is set for 2013. There
is still time before then for models that will work for
services to be explored.
Changes to Associations laws
As outlined in a previous issue of Broadside,
changes to the Associations Act and
Regulation came into force from July 2010.
For most children’s services in NSW, the changes do
not require any immediate action. Services are under
no obligation to change existing constitutions to
comply with the new Act immediately. However, when
you next go to make changes to your constitution, you
will also need to make changes to ensure it complies
with the new Act.
There are a few changes that Community Child
Care believes children’s services should be aware of
however. These are:
Common Seal: Associations can now determine
whether they wish to have a common seal or not.
Under the new Act there is no requirement to have a
common seal. Until you remove this section from your
constitution, however, the use of your common seal is
governed by what is in your current constitution.
Conflicts of Interest: Committee members
now have an obligation to disclose any conflict of
interest between them and the association. Where
a committee member has any personal interest in
a matter being considered by the committee this
should be disclosed to the committee and recorded.
The new Act includes penalties (up to $6,600) that
can be imposed on committee members who don’t
disclose conflicts of interest.
For more information on how to handle conflicts
of interest, see Chapter 5 of Community Child
Care’s book So Now You Are On The Committee: A
Handbook For Committee Members of Children's
Services (copies can be purchased for $29.95 by
phoning Jo Walls on (02) 8922 6445.)
Size of Association: Should your company
change its form of incorporation? The Office of
Fair Trading is using the amount of $2 million as
a measure of assets, income or expenditure to
determine if an organisation should be incorporated
as an association. If you are an association and your
annual income or income and assets are above this
amount you may wish to consider changing your form
of incorporation to a company limited by guarantee
under the Corporations Act 2001.
4 Broadside • September 2010 | Community Child Care Co-operative Ltd. (NSW)
Draft RegULATIONS
in the pipeline
Although the Education and Care Services
National Law Bill 2010 has been introduced,
it is the regulation to this bill that will
contain the nitty-gritty detail of how
education and care services will operate
after 2012 across Australia.
Similar to the NSW Children’s Services Regulation
2004, the new Regulation will contain the absolute
requirements for running a service. Although we
already know much of it (for example, ratios, floor
space requirements and qualifications) much is
presumably still being fought over by the state and
territory governments.
It is vital that the early education and care sector
is consulted about the content of the regulations. It
is only when each service sees them that they can
assess whether something that they do or need has
been overlooked by the drafters of the Regulation.
Community Child Care understands that a draft of
the regulation is to go before the National Reference
Group in late October and then be given to the
sector to comment on between December 2010 and
February 2011.
This is, of course, the worst time of the year
for most services to be involved in this sort of
consultation, but it is vital that services provide
feedback to government about what will and won’t
work about the proposed Regulation.
We want
your views
As we all know, the next NSW election will
be in March 2011. As Community Child Care
Co-operative considers our advocacy role
in the lead up to the election, we are also
interested in hearing what our members are
thinking.
Are there particular issues connected with early
education and care that you would like us to
highlight? Are there particular policy positions you
would like us to push? What would you like to see
changed about the NSW Government’s support for
early education and care? Increasing preschool
funding to the level enjoyed by the other states is an
obvious one … but what else?
What do you feel about the possible policy direction
announced in the NSW Liberal and National Party’s
Social Policy Framework: Smarter, Stronger, Healthier,
Safer: ‘that they will boost preschool participation
rates to ensure at least 95 per cent of four year olds
attend preschool two days a week’? What about their
possible policy proposal to shift the responsibility for
the provision of preschool education from Community
Services to the Department of Education and Training
to: ‘ensure quality learning, a simpler system for
parents and a more efficient system for taxpayers’.
Think about how you would like us to frame our
election demands and email us at [email protected]
5 Broadside • September 2010 | Community Child Care Co-operative Ltd. (NSW)
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Broadside • Editor Lisa Bryant • Production ARMEDIA • ISSN 0819-9728
©2010 Published by Community Child Care Co-operative Ltd. (NSW) • CEO Leanne Gibbs
Community Child Care Co-operative Ltd. (NSW) is a non-profit, non-government organisation set
up to lobby for and provide information on children’s services in New South Wales. It is funded by
the NSW Department of Community Services. Community Child Care gratefully acknowledges the
support of Microsoft Corporation in providing Community Child Care with free software under their
Community Assistance Initiative. Registered Australia Post Publication No. 255003/04732
Photocopying is permitted in part – however, acknowledgement must be given.
Building 21, 142 Addison Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204 T: (02) 8922 6444 FreeCall 1800 157 818 F: (02) 8922 6445 E: [email protected] W: www.ccccnsw.org.au
NQF information
sessions
Is your long day care or preschool booked into an
National Quality Framework (NQF) information
session yet? These sessions are being held by
Children’s Services Central and Community Child
Care across NSW between now and the end of
November. These two-hour information sessions
explore the changes that long day care services
and preschools will need to implement as a result
of the Framework. They will give the most up-todate information available and will explain when
and what changes services will need to undertake
in preparation.
A recording of one of the sessions and the
PowerPoint used will be available on the Community
Child Care website from the end of November.
Book at www.cscentral.org.au/pd
NQF skills
workshops for
preschools
Dates and venues have now been chosen for the
National Quality Framework Skills Workshops for
preschools. These three-hour preschool specific
workshops will provide participants with essential
skills needed to prepare for meeting the National
Quality Standard (NQS), including developing
approaches to evaluation and development of
quality improvement plans. These workshops are
complementary to the information sessions and are
smaller workshops. These are expected to fill quickly
but Community Child Care is lobbying for more
professional development opportunities to be made
available to preschools.
Book at www.ccccnsw.org.au/events
ECA workshops
Early Childhood Australia has been granted almost
$3.5 million by DEEWR to provide 'professional
support to services as they engage in the Early years
Learning Framework implementation process' on a
national basis over the next 12 months.
The professional development on offer consists of
➤ 65 EYLF workshops across Australia;
➤ an online EYLF interactive forum;
➤ an online EYLF e-newsletter;
➤ EYLF online master classes focused on features
of high quality early childhood practice; and
➤ a series of short EYLF practice and training video
vignettes.
To find out more, go to
www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/eylfplp
6 Broadside • September 2010 | Community Child Care Co-operative Ltd. (NSW)