Solutions proposed to new NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning

August 11th, 2023 Latest News

Since the NSW state election on 25 March 2023, ACA NSW has recently met the Hon Prue Car MP in her now role as the NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning as well as the NSW Deputy Premier.


As agreed, a set of 13 immediate-short term proposals have been provided to Deputy Premier Car:


  1. Regulatory Proposals
    • A-01 - Aligning NSW's requirements for degree-qualified early childhood teachers in long daycare services with teachers' expectations about their vocations in order to maximise recruitment and retention
    • A-02 - Removing barriers to facilitate easier entry for potential educators
    • A-03 - Extending existing national provision for NSW about persons taken to be early childhood teachers

  2. Funding Proposals
    • B-01 - Use the balance of $281.6m to compete with Victoria and provide similar financial incentives to recruit educators/teachers to relocate to NSW
    • B-02 - Use the balance of $281.6m for competing marketing campaigns across NSW focussing on school leavers and matrure-aged individuals to trial early childhood education and care as a career or alternatie career path respectively
    • B-03 - New funding allocation and distribution of up to $549m per year to eligible long daycare services due to higher early childhood teacher qualifications requirements compared to all other Australian states

  3. Regulatory Practices Proposals
    • C-01 - Emphasis towards those services whose last assessment & rating was more than 3 years ago (ie 2016-2020) as well as those services rated Working Towards in 2021 or prior
    • C-02 - Instruct the NSW Department of Education to only record breaches that attract a financial penalty only, and conduct all other breaches as Guided Compliances with information to be only recorded internally within the NSW Department of Education
    • C-03 - Publish a NSW minimum standard on documentation and advertising that services need to prove their inability to recruit early childhood education and care educators and teachers during the worsening labour shortages
    • C-04 - Given the worsening labour shortages that is unlikely to correct itself until at least 2025, the NSW Department of Education should not effectively charge fees on waiver applications that fail
    • C-05 - Appoint an external contractor who receives the feedback of assessments and ratings and provide reports (deidentified of sources) on a per Authorised Officers, hubs of Authorised Officers and NSW-level basis

  4. Other Proposals
    • D-01 - Recalibrating NSW's early childhood educators' and teachers' English proficiency level that is appropriate for early childhood education and care of children aged 0-5 years old
    • D-02 - New funding allocation and distribution to assess accurate regulatory impact assessments and pursue harmonisation and efficiencies to alleviate services' workload wherever possible

These 13 "low-hanging" solutions that we have been discussing with Deputy Premier Car is also in the context of ACA NSW's submission for the NSW Budget 2023-2024.


ACA NSW intends to provide Deputy Premier Car an opportunity to consider these immediate-short term solutions.  ACA NSW will present as well as provide further information/clarification at upcoming What's The Buzz meetings for members where required.


In the near future, ACA NSW also will outline these proposals publicly in the context of an immediate-to-long-term context of the needs of early childhood education and care services' children, families, educators and teachers.


In the meantime, members can contact the ACA NSW team via 1300 556 330 or nsw@childcarealliance.org.au for any further information/clarification.


PUBLISHED: 11 AUGUST 2023

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