The Union has a number of concerns about the proposals:
- The extended liability meaning teachers could be personally liable for something that goes wrong at a centre is a real concern. Teachers in schools or nurses in hospitals do not have fines. This could be yet another deterrent to working in the early childhood sector.
- The removal of an overall National Quality rating. The IEU believes that the overall rating is important for the parents and the wider community to understand how well their service meets the quality standards.
- Extending the rating and assessment period to five years would not provide for adequate frequency of assessments for services. Many changes can take place in a service over a five-year period.
- Regulation 135 which states that if an early childhood teacher is absent because of a short-term illness or leave (defined as less than 12 weeks), a person who holds an approved diploma level education and care qualification or a primary teaching qualification is taken to be an early childhood teacher during that period. As a Union of early childhood professionals we cannot support a regulation where a teacher is not replaced by a teacher. Schools replace teachers with teachers not school assistants. The RIS proposes that this be extended to the resignation of a teacher as well.
We would encourage Union members to have their say about these changes.
Submissions must be received by 16 January 2015. For more details or to make a submission, go to http://www.deloitteaccesseconomics.com.au/our+services/nqf+consultation+ris