Department of Education

Child Care
Direction
The Child Care Unit (CCU) is integral to maintaining
the provision of quality child care in Tasmania. Staff
• a system of licensing, including developing,
implementing and reviewing licensing standards
• support and advice to services and the wider
community in regard to licensing
• funding through specific programs.
Major
Initiatives
Recognition
Project
MCCAC sees recognition of prior learning and
experience as an effective tool to build on and
complement the Child Care Scholarships program,
Performance 5
seek opportunities to work collaboratively with the
child care community while maintaining the unit’s core
functions of providing:
The most significant issues continuing to affect the
child care sector are the challenges associated with the
recruitment and retention of child care staff, particularly
In late 2007, the Minister’s Child Care Advisory Council
(MCCAC) identified recruitment and retention of
suitable staff as its main priority and developed a
successful budget bid to establish the recognition
process as a significant, ongoing qualification pathway
to help resolve the qualifications crisis.
the Skills to Care initiative, and the Skills for Growth
initiative. The first intake of the project was completed
qualified staff. The CCU is working with the sector and
the Minister’s Child Care Advisory Council to improve
this and has facilitated and developed a number of
strategies to increase the number of qualified staff.
Currently, planning is underway nationally for
the implementation of the Council of Australian
Governments’ (COAG) quality reform agenda. The
National Partnership Agreement on the National Quality
Agenda for Early Childhood Education and Care was signed in
December 2009.
The agreement requires significant change for licensing,
accreditation and the work of the CCU. Work to
enable these changes to occur smoothly commenced in
2009–10 and will continue through to its implementation
from 1 January 2012.
in 2009–10 and the final intake will complete their
involvement late in 2011. A total of 46 coaches have
received assessor training, 36 of whom are still current
and are co-assessing candidates in conjunction with
Skills Institute coordinators. A total of 138 candidates
have been/are currently enrolled in the project.
Of the 75 who participated in 2010, 17 obtained
their Diploma qualification with the vast majority of
the remainder continuing with a training pathway to
complete the gaps identified through the recognition
process. An additional three candidates have completed
the Diploma so far in 2011.
Licensed
Child Care
Places
During 2010–11, CCU met the state’s responsibility
for licensing and standards. Data indicates that despite
variations from year to year, there has still been an
overall increase in places from 2008–09.
Key performance measure 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11
Licensed child care services: 6
0–5 year-olds 7 83 81 76
5–12 year-olds 8 111 109 104
0–12 year-olds 77 77 80
Family day care schemes 11 11 12
Total 282 278 272
Licensed centre-based child care places:
Long day care 5,590 5,565 5,988
Occasional care 703 671 499
After school care 4,499 4,463 4,687
Before school care 1,554 1,507 1,448
Vacation care 4,052 4,031 4,143
Total 16,398 16,237 16,765
5 These measures support the achievement of Tasmania Together
benchmark 1.2.1.
6 DoE target for 2010–11 (dependant on market forces) was 290.
7 Long day care and occasional care centres only.
8 After school, before school and vacation care centres only.
Pre-Compulsory and Compulsory Education – Child Care
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