06 DecA welcome investment in Victoria’s Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce
Early Learning Association Australia (ELAA) welcomes the Victorian Government’s announcement of its Next Steps in Victoria’s Kindergarten Workforce Strategy .
The strategy responds to an urgent need for action to address workforce issues, as highlighted in ELAA’s jointly authored report Investing in our future: Growing the education and care workforce.
The Investing in our future report, based on a survey of members representing over 3300 sites, raises concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on workforce retention, and numerous challenges faced by high quality education and care services supporting parents and carers as they return to the workplace.
“Our report showed that nearly half of all job vacancies in education and care settings remained unfilled in early 2021. Poor pay and conditions, and lack of qualified applicants were key reasons for these shortages,” said David Worland, ELAA CEO.
The Victorian Government’s ‘Next Steps’ strategy responds to a number of the recommendations in ELAA’s co-authored report, including providing additional funding for new traineeships for priority jobseekers.
“We are pleased to see recognition of the need to attract and support a diverse range of people to complete early childhood education and care qualifications.”
The strategy also focuses on supporting the quality of supervised placements in early childhood services.
“Partnerships between services and universities are vital. We are thrilled that ELAA member, Shine Bright, is highlighted in the ‘Next Steps’ strategy due to its strong partnership with Latrobe University.”
ELAA is looking forward to working with the Victorian Government to ensure the ‘Next Steps’ strategy supports the community based Early Childhood Education and Care sector to attract and retain a high-quality workforce.
“We thank the Victorian Government for responding to the sector and continuing to invest in our early childhood workforce.”
For more information or to arrange an interview contact James Gardener 0413 483 182.
