Australian Education Minister Jason Clare says the final pay rise will help "bring more people into the sector" while keeping "the great educators we’ve already got". Photo / Getty Images
Australian Education Minister Jason Clare says the final pay rise will help "bring more people into the sector" while keeping "the great educators we’ve already got". Photo / Getty Images
Australian early childhood educators will get a final 5% pay bump on Monday, bringing their total wage rises to A$160 (NZ$180) per week since December last year.
The Albanese government targeted low wages in the sector during its first term in a bid to attract more people, slash casual staffnumbers and ultimately raise the quality of care.
“Caring for and teaching kids is some of the most important work in the country,” Australian education minister Jason Clare said on Sunday.
“And our early educators deserve to be paid fairly for that work.
“That’s why we’re delivering this 15% pay rise, with the final 5% hitting the pay packets of early educators from tomorrow.
“We know the pay rise is working to bring more people into sector and help to keep the great educators we’ve already got.”
Australian early childhood education minister Jess Walsh said better pay “helps create a long-term stable workforce, and that strengthens the whole sector”.
Early Childhood Education Minister Jess Walsh says educators ‘were underpaid, undervalued and overlooked’. Photo / Getty Images
“For too long, our early childhood educators were underpaid, undervalued and overlooked.
“And as a result, they were walking out the door,” she said, adding that “they were walking out the door”.
She said “we’re seeing that turn around” since the initial 10% bump a year ago.
Official figures showed early childhood educators grew by some 15,100 in the year to August, representing a 6% jump.
Vacancy rates and staffing waivers – which let childcare centres temporarily operate with fewer staff than needed – also dropped by 14% and 9% respectively in the year to October.
Goodstart Early Learning chief executive Ros Baxter said the pay rise “has been a game-changer in helping to stabilise the early childhood workforce”.
“A stable, professional workforce is an absolute precondition for delivering safe, quality early learning and care for children and families,” Baxter said.
“Goodstart’s vacancy rate is now at a five-year low, down 31% in two years, and our staff turnover rate is also at a five-year low.
“Increasing the subsidy to 15% on December 1 and later implementing the full outcome of the recent gender valuation review of educators’ wages will help close the gap between what teachers and educators are paid in early learning and what they are paid in schools.”
The sector has this year been rattled by allegations of sexual abuse at childcare centres in multiple states.
Clare introduced snap legislation letting him cut federal funds to centres that fell short on safety after police charged a childcare worker with more than 70 offences, including sexual activity in the presence of a child under 16 and possession of child abuse material.
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