In Queensland, children's services can be described as either centre based or home based services. A centre based service provides care and education for children up to school age (birth to 12 years). The following describes the types of centre based services available in Queensland.
Long day care centres are usually open Monday to Friday between 7am and 6pm for at least 48 weeks of the year and provide care and education for children ranging in age from babies to school age. Families using long day care centres are eligible for means tested government assistance called Childcare Benefit & Childcare rebate. Each centre has a Director, however as these centres vary in size there can be anywhere from 4 educators per service up to 40.
Kindergartens are usually open Monday to Friday between 9am and 2.30pm during school term and generally provide care and education for children from three and a half years to school age. Families using kindergartens may be eligible for means tested government assistance called Childcare Rebate. Kindergartens have two educators per room and at most have two rooms so all are reasonably small services.
Occasional Care services hours vary depending on the service and offer care for children ranging in age from babies to school age on an occasional basis. One form of occasional care in Qld are called Limited hours care services and these operate for no longer than 20 hours in a week with a licensed capacity of not more than 30 children. Families using Occasional care may be eligible for means tested government assistance called Childcare rebate. Occasional care services can be attached to a long day care centre and so vary in size like those centres.
School age care services can be open before school usually from 6am, after school usually until 6 pm and during school holidays and offer care for school age children. Families using School Age care services are eligible for means tested government assistance called Childcare Benefit & Childcare rebate. School Age Care services vary in size from one coordinator and one educator up to 20 educators. A home based service provides care for a small group of children in one or more homes. This following describes the type of home based services available in Queensland.
Family day care is licensed care that is offered in private homes of carers under a family day care scheme. Carers are supported by the scheme's coordination unit and care for children from birth to 12. Family Day Care can provide more flexibility in the hours of care than centre based services as the Carer workers from their own home. Families using Family Day Care services are eligible for means tested government assistance called Childcare Benefit & Childcare rebate. Family day Care schemes also vary in size, they have at least one and up five or six coordinators and the number of home based educators depends on the size of the scheme.
In-home Care is care that is offered in the family's own home under a scheme coordniator. Carers are supported by the scheme's coordination unit and care for children from birth to 12. In home care is not widely available and is usually only an option where other forms of care are not suitable. This usually happens in circumstances where it is difficult for children to be cared for outside the home, for example, if the child has a disability and their home is structured especially for them. Another example is when a family works shift work and it is more appropriate for a carer to be in the home at night while family members are at work. Families using In-home Care services are eligible for means tested government assistance called Childcare Benefit & Childcare rebate. In-home care is smaller however, has the same staffing structure as Family Day Care.
Playgroup is a group of mums, dads, grandparents and caregivers who meet together each week with their babies, toddlers and preschoolers for interaction and fun. Parent and caregivers work together to provide their babies and young children with opportunities to learn through play.
Nannies and babysitters are similar to In-home care that they provide care in the child's own home. However they are not necessarily organized through a scheme and therefore the carers are not supported in their work and families do not have eligibility for government assistance.
Adjunct care or resort care is a service conducted by a hotel, resort, gym, shopping centre that provides child care to children for short periods of time. These services are not licensed and families do not have eligibility for government assistance.
Children's services are provided by a variety of private, not-for-profit and a small number of government organisations. These range from small facilities with only limited staff, as described above, to some of Queensland's largest employers who operate many services across the state and employ hundreds of workers.
In 2007/2008 the private sector represented 59.9% of the child care sector in Queensland, with community managed services representing 37% and 3.1% managed by government. However since then a number of local authorities have contracted out their services and ABC (the largest private long day care provider) has been sold to a community managed consortium. These factors have changed these statistics considerably so that now the not for profit sector represents nearly 75% of children's services in Queensland.
In Queensland today, the private sector represents about 58% of the Long Day Care market and therefore 62% is operated by the not for profit sector. The other centre based services are operated by the not for profit sector which includes, churches, charities, small local management committees and in the school age care sector many are operated by primary school P&Cs. All Family Day Care schemes are operated by the not for profit sector as are the majority of In-home care services.
Currently in Queensland there are just over 2,577 licensed child care services. Of these 1,499 are long day care centres, 85 are Family day care schemes and 24 are In-home care services with approximately 2970 home based educators, 600 are Outside School Hours Care services and 52 are occasional care services. There are no statistics available on the number of playgroups, adjunct care facilities or nannies as these numbers change constantly.
Between 2003 and 2007 the number of child care places in Queensland grew from 127,061 to 177,561 with nearly 30,000 new places in Out of School Hours care in this time.
In 2006 there were 15,204 educators employed as primary contact staff, 3,619 family day carers, nearly 600 administration workers and 348 other staff employed in services across Queensland. 2007 data shows us that at that time there were 14,476 educators in Queensland with appropriate qualifications and 8,919 workers without relevant qualifications. Of these 8,919 unqualified workers, 6,881 had less than three years experience.
In centre based services the roles include Director or Coordinator of the service, Group leader who is in charge of a group of children and Assistant. Some larger organisations also employ Regional or Area managers that monitor and provide support to a number of services. In home based services the roles include Care providers who work from home and are recruited, trained and resourced by a Coordinator, who also supports and monitors individual care providers services.
There are also new Children's services just developing that are integrated child care and family support services, this new form of service is seeing the emergence of a new role of children's services educator as a part of a family support team.
Here is a list of the qualifications most directly related to the common roles in Children's Services
Department of Education Employment & Workplace Relations
http://www.deewr.gov.au/EarlyChildhood/ OECECC/Pages/home.aspxThis government website provides information on different types of child care and managing a child care service.
http://www.mychild.gov.au/
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