Hundreds of local families are well-versed in childcare and early learning inaccessibility, so young families in Stratford and the neighbouring regions will be relieved to learn that a new childcare facility is slated to open later this year.
Leading Edge Childcare is set to open its doors for children aged six weeks to five years at the end of 2023, with registrations of interest now available for local parents.
The new childcare facility is also recruiting staff in all positions, including centre manager, assistant manager, early childhood teacher, centre cook, lead educators, educators and trainees.
As of this year, all Victorians are entitled to two years of free kindergarten programs as part of the $9-billion Early Childhood Education and its Care (ECEC) reform program.
A 15-hour per week program will be available to four-year-old children, and a five-to-15-hour program will be available to three-year-old children per week.
The pending opening of Leading Edge Childcare’s Stratford facility is sure to offer relief, that is, assuming they can recruit employees, given the ECEC program is now underway and local families still struggle to find available childcare.
The National Skills Commission has identified a nationwide shortage of early childhood educators, with federal education department data revealing a 39-per-cent decline in Bachelor of Early Childhood Teaching enrolments between 2016 and 2020.
It also showed a 24-per-cent decline in early childhood education and Care Diploma completion, suggesting employers’ continued difficulty recruiting pre-primary school teachers.
Data from the Department of Education’s 2020 Victorian Teacher Supply and Demand Report revealed Gippsland has the second-lowest proportion of early childhood teachers in the state, with just 350.
A recent study by Dr Peter Hurley from the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University found that parents in regional Australia have the most developmentally vulnerable children, but the poorest access to childcare.
Dr Hurley’s analysis revealed there are 3.49 children for every one early childhood education position in Gippsland, equating to 59.6 per cent of Gippsland families in a ‘childcare desert’.
A ‘childcare desert’ is a scenario in which more than three children aged four and under are vying for each childcare spot within a 20-minute drive.
Between June 2020 and June 2021, Gippsland Health Care reported a 21 per cent increase in births, with the highest surges in March and May 2021, nine months after Victoria’s second lockdown began in June 2020.
The COVID baby boom generated unprecedented growth in the number of children needing care, adding another pressure, on top of the lack of early childhood teachers and educators, to the Gippsland ECEC industry.
