Is Regulation 272 right for Early Childhood Teachers?

As members already know, ACA NSW has been agitating for sensible improvements to the regulatory framework for years, including Regulation 272 - Early Childhood Teachers - children preschool age or under.

The NSW Productivity Commissioner even published his report that "... the cost of NSW maintaining requirements above the national standards equates to around $3,000 a year [more] for each child attending [early childhood education and care]." The same report also did not show any systemic superior children's outcomes that could justify the higher regulatory requirements imposed in NSW.

But for NSW's early childhood teachers, should we continue to accept that early childhood teachers "... must be in attendance at all times ..." as required by Regulation 272(2)-(5)?, especially when ironically the Quality Ratings in NSW is declining compared to other Australian states despite their having far fewer early childhood teachers.

NSW long daycare services tend to operate from 7.30 am to 6 pm on weekdays. That said, according to the national authority for early childhood education and care (ACECQA), there are now:

• 14 NSW long daycare services that operate 24 hours a day;

• 2,182 NSW long daycare services that open between 5 am and before 7.30 am;

• 477 NSW long daycare services that close between after 6.01 pm and 11.30 pm; and

• up to 62 NSW long daycare services that operate on Saturdays and Sundays.

Does NSW expect early childhood teachers to teach between midnight and 7.30 am, or between 6.01 pm to 11.59 pm, or on the weekends, or even from 7.30 am to 9 am, or from 3 pm to 6 pm?

ACA NSW has written to the NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Education & Early Learning (the Hon Prue Car MP) seeking urgent plausible alternatives to address Regulation 272(2)-(5) compelling early childhood teachers to be in attendance "at all times" given it is not the vocational expectations of early childhood teachers.

Our submission to the NSW Deputy Premier contains legal advice stating that it cannot guarantee that NSW Authorised Officers will not use the literal interpretation of "at all times" due to how Regulation 272(2)-(5) is phrased.

Moreover, our submission also contains an update from the NSW Department of Education confirming that they have been undertaking consultation (for at least a year) but has yet offered no solution in the forseeable future.

ACA NSW believes Regulation 272(2)-(5) is the simplest of all the unintentionally negative regulations to fix., especially when all other Australian states have been following Regulations 130-134 since 2012.

While there continues to be severe labour shortages, persisting to have Regulation 272(2)-(5) imposed by the NSW Department of Education does not provide any relief to the existing challenges of recruiting and retaining early childhood teachers. And without the requisite early childhood teachers, can services legally offer all the approved places for children?

Should the NSW Government wish to keep Regulation 272(2)-(5) as it is, then perhaps the NSW Government can guarantee systemically superior children's outcomes that are produced as a result of having more early childhood teachers during far longer operational hours than all other Australian states?

After all, it is worth remembering that the NSW Department of Education (in September 2022) and the Federal Minister for Education (in October 2022) publicly expressing their concern that 40% to 45% (respectively) of children were developmentally not on track upon starting school.

ACA NSW members may be interested in this and other issues and proposed solutions in its NSW Budget 2025 submission to the NSW Government.

For any further information/clarification, please contact the ACA NSW team via 1300 556 330 or nsw@childcarealliance.org.au.

PUBLISHED: 22 JANUARY 2025