Family Futures

[

] 185

nsuring

ork

-F

amily

alance

approved childcare. Today, almost all Australian children

participate in some form of early childhood education and

care (ECEC).

In 2013 the number of children under 12

using approved care services stood at more than 1 million

with the highest usage for children aged 2-4 years at around

50 per cent.

Australian families do not, however, use long

hours of childcare. Forty per cent of children who access

formal care attend for less than 10 hours per week. Only

9 per cent attend for 35 or more hours per week. When

informal care is included, the mean time spent in care is

only 17 hours per week. This reflects the part-time work

profile of many Australian women.

The cost of childcare has been of significant concern

to parents and governments over the past decade. The

federal government provides a mixture of means-tested

and flat-rate subsidies to parents with children in approved

care. Nevertheless the cost has continued to rise. Official

data show that the price paid for childcare by consumers

increased at three times the general rate of inflation between

2009 and 2012.

This is despite growing government subsi-

dies and support for the ECEC sector which is budgeted to

reach around $A6 billion per year in 2017.

In recent years there have been some very positive

developments in Australia’s childcare sector. In 2010 the

National Quality Framework was introduced with the

aim to improve the quality of service provision through

better child/teacher ratios and improved staff training

requirements. At the same time an Early Years Learning

Framework was introduced setting out the principles, prac-

tices and outcomes required to support children’s learning

from birth to school. In addition, a National Partnership

Agreement on Early Childhood Education and Care was

implemented, providing all children with 15 hours of

preschool education in the year before they start school.

These are important developments for Australian children,

parents and childcare workers.

However, the payment of decent wages for early childhood

educators and teachers remains a pressing issue in the child-

care sector. Childcare workers are among the lowest paid

people in the Australian workforce leading to problems in

recruitment, lack of career development and high turnover.

Currently around 180 educators leave the sector each week

with negative implications for the continuity and quality of

care for children.

The urgent need to improve wages for

early childhood educators is linked to a broader problem

– the development of an equitable funding model that can

deliver a high quality and sustainable ECEC system. This

is currently being evaluated by a Productivity Commission

inquiry into the childcare sector, which is due to report in

late 2014. The inquiry has been welcomed by providers,

parents and policy advocates, however there is some concern

that cost and accessibility will be addressed at the expense

of maintaining high quality care.

Workplace flexibility

The provision of unpaid care for children, the frail aged,

the disabled and the sick is essential to the well-being

of Australian society and the economy. But unpaid care

demands have a significant impact on workforce participa-

tion, especially for women who are much more likely than

men to be primary carers throughout their life course.

The importance of unpaid care work and its impact on

workforce participation is only just beginning to gain recog-

nition in Australia.

At the same time national productivity

and participation agendas are calling for increased labour

force participation by women, the mature aged and those

with disabilities.

Workers with these profiles require flex-

ibility in their working time arrangements in order to meet

their own self-care needs and the care needs of those who

depend on them.

In 2010 the new National Employment Standards (NES)

provided employees with preschool-aged children or a

disabled child under 18 years the right to request (RTR)

a change in their working time arrangements. Under the

NES employers are required to consider the request, but

can refuse on business grounds. This limited right is not

supported by a robust right to appeal an employer’s unrea-

sonable refusal. Initial research shows that most workers

do not know about the RTR, that men are less likely than

women to make a request, and that when they do they

are more likely to be refused than women.

In 2013 the

RTR was extended and it now includes all employees with

Changes in Australia’s workforce participation, childcare and ageing population, 1994-2014

Source: ABS various catalogues; Baxter 2013; Productivity Commission 2013; RBA 2013

International Year

of the Family (IYF) 1994

IYF 20th anniversary 2014

Labour force participation for women aged 25-74

67%

78%

Proportion of employed mothers with dependent children under 18 years

55% (1991)

65% (2011)

Proportion of women workers in part-time employment

42%

46%

Children under 12 years using approved childcare services

250,000 (1991)

More than 1 million

Proportion of population over 65 years

11%

14%