26 SepOur Fair Work Submission on the Children’s Services Award

Posted on 26 Sep 2024

ELAA recently made a submission to the Fair Work Commission for its Gender Undervaluation – Priority Awards Review.

Why is this Review important?

  • The Fair Work Commission (FWC) is undertaking a major case review of the Children’s Services Award 2010 and other priority awards, to determine whether the rates of pay in these priority awards have been the subject of gender undervaluation.
  • In other words, to assess whether the work and minimum wages of early childhood educators have been historically under-valued due to assumptions based on gender.

Who does it impact?

  • The Children’s Services Award 2010 (CSA) is a national modern award setting the minimum wages and conditions for about 12,000 early childhood educators in Victoria.
  • The Children’s Services Award (CSA) is one of the two awards that underpin the Victorian Early Childhood Teachers and Educators Agreement 2020 (VECTEA), so any increases to CSA minimum wages will impact on the VECTEA.

In ELAA’s submission, we note that:

  • There is a difference between the perception of feminine traits around caring for young children, and technical skills in male dominated sectors. These assumptions have led to a highly gender segregated workforce which receives relatively low rates of pay as set in our awards.
  • Further to this, the ‘invisible’ skills required by early childhood educators have historically been overlooked, meaning that the high levels of autonomy, sophisticated interpersonal and adaptive skillsets, and leadership capabilities required are not well recognised within current pay scales in the CSA.

What benefits could this Review bring to the ECEC sector’s workforce?

  • This Review is actively considering whether improvements in the minimum wages and classifications schedule (pay levels) applying to several role types in Early Childhood Education and Care should be implemented to remedy historical undervaluation due to gender.
  • A similar recent FWC Review of the Aged Care Award 2010 resulted in increases in wages for some roles as high as 28.5%

 When will the outcome of the Review be announced?

  • Hearings of the FWC on this Review are scheduled for 2 – 20 December 2024.
  • We anticipate announcements regarding potential improvements in the Children’s Services Award wages and other priority awards to occur during early to mid-2025.

To read the full submission, please CLICK HERE.

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