VET & TAFE campusreview. com. au
Shonky with the offspring
A new report from the regulator shows the training of childcare workers isn’ t the only thing that’ s inadequate.
By John Mitchell
A controversial new report has exposed the poor level of training of childcare workers around Australia, a finding that will cause deep consternation among parents who place their young children in day care.
It is now clear that young children are not only being let down by rogue training providers but also by the VET hierarchy, which includes the federal government and the national regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority( ASQA). However, the report is also controversial because of the lengthy delay in its release – suggesting political interference in the process – and the awkward attempt the authors made to tone down the importance of the crisis in VET training they described.
Since ASQA commenced operations in July 2011, this column has consistently supported its importance as the independent national regulator. But the childcare report raises the possibility that the authority is either being pressured to delay reports, dilute findings and soften recommendations or, perhaps, is doing so of its own volition.
It may be that only a whistleblower inside ASQA or the federal government could say for sure, as part of a public investigation.
An unprecedented attack on the federal government and ASQA was made in Victorian Parliament in late August by the Victorian skills minister, Steve Herbert. As The Australian reported, frustrated by ASQA’ s delayed report, Herbert noted that“ the audit of 77 childcare training providers was completed in May 2014, so this [ August 2015 release ] is far too long [ for ASQA ] to sit on a report that calls for more audits to crack down on providers who aren’ t following the rules”.
Herbert also told The Australian at the time he was frustrated that ASQA, despite his requests, had not informed him earlier about which providers in Victoria were shoddy:“ It is critical to the success of Victoria’ s training system that ASQA better co-operate with us and pass on any information about providers doing the wrong thing.”
SHORT COURSES; DEFICIENT ASSESSMENT The ASQA report from August is titled Training for early childhood education and care in Australia. It is based on the results of 77 audits of RTOs the authority conducted in early 2014. This group represents 30 per cent of all the training providers delivering early childhood learning and childcare in Australia, a significant sample.
The first major finding was that 20 per cent of the Certificate III certifications in childcare were being
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