Independent Article

Traineeships – the future of training in childcare

Ryan Meldrum, Expect A Star

Childcare Sales Australia is proud to share this article, supplied by Ryan Meldrum of Expect A Star, one of Australia's brightest child care recruitment and training organisations.

Expect A Star Education Services are childcare specialists providing a range of services to the childcare industry including casual and permanent recruitment for a range of early childhood settings, facilitation of traineeship programs and professional development training for educators, advice for families and online retailing of educational resources. You can contact Expect A Star on the details provided below or visit the Expect A Star website for more info at

www.expectastar.com.au

Traineeships – the future of training in childcare

The very word ‘Traineeship’ has frightened off many a Director or centre owner over the years, conjuring up thoughts of excess paperwork, increased costs and most importantly the added ‘time-cost’ of administering the program. Thankfully much of this has changed and the increased benefits to the employer make traineeships the way forward for the childcare industry.

The most notable change to the structure of traineeships is the level of Government funding. The Commonwealth and State Governments have come together in a joint initiative to invest in the future of the childcare industry by over-funding the entire program. This essentially means that centres are paid by the Government to train their staff. Further to this the Government will allow payroll tax exemption to employers who exceed the $600,000 threshold per annum for new employees (a new employee is one which has been with the company for less than 3 months full-time or less than 12 months part-time). This means centres can train their unqualified staff to become Certificate III qualified and be paid for doing so.

Another major change to the program is the way it is structured. Traditionally the trainee would study one day per week and work the other four. The trainee is now able to work a full five day week, without having to leave the workplace to attend the formal part of the training. The program is also now competency-based rather than the old time-based system, meaning traineeships can be completed once the formal certificate has been attained through the TAFE program, and the on-the-job component reaches the 6 month point.

In addition to the aforementioned financial benefits, there are a whole range of reasons why an employer would participate in the program, namely standard of care. Undoubtedly having a trained workforce contributes significantly to an overall increase in the standard of care delivered to children. Trainees are able to regularly demonstrate their newfound knowledge and raise the internal benchmark of care for the centre. Director’s can also have confidence in the quality of work undertaken by employees and their ability to demonstrate this to third parties, namely families. How a family perceives the level of training and skill held by the centres employees adds value and makes the centre more attractive and competitive in a market which sees many centres operating below full capacity.

Traineeships also make good sense in an industry that commonly experiences a high level of staff turnover, giving employers the ability to reward and motivate employees and validate their working experiences. Employees are also much more likely to stay within an organisation that fosters their career growth and development. Centres may also gain a reputation for being an ‘employer of choice’ and so their ability to capture higher quality candidates is increased. From a centres’ financial perspective it is much more cost-effective to ‘train and retain’ current staff than employ and re-train new staff. Having a consistent team also contributes to the well-being of the children and is looked favourably upon by the families.

Finally, traineeships offer employers the opportunity to invest in the industry and guarantee the availability of skilled employees in the future.

Expect A Star offer an Intensive format of the Certificate III and Diploma course in conjunction with TAFE which has recently been approved for traineeship funding. We are currently enrolling students for the 2008 program, so please feel free to contact our office on 1300 669 653 to discuss the program or visit www.expectastar.com.au for further information.