ANZSCO 1341-11 New South Wales
Child Care Centre Manager September 2016
Labour Economics Office New South Wales
Department of Employment
Current labour market rating Shortage
Previous labour market rating (September 2015) Metropolitan shortage
Comments
Shortages of child care centre managers are evident across New South Wales, with almost 40 per cent of surveyed vacancies remaining unfilled and employers considering few applicants to be suitable.
Survey results
· The Survey of Employers who have Recently Advertised (SERA) was conducted for the occupation of child care centre managers in September 2016.
· Overall, 63 per cent of vacancies surveyed were filled, a slight increase from last year (57percent).
· There was an average of 3.8 applicants per vacancy (a slight decrease compared with 2015 where there were 4.0 applicants per vacancy).
· There were low numbers of suitable applicants, with employers considering less than one applicant per vacancy to be suitable on average (0.9 compared with 0.8 in 2015).
· All vacancies surveyed required the successful applicant to have a childcare qualification that is recognised by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority. Most employers were willing to accept either a Diploma of Early Childhood or a Bachelor of Early Childhood Teaching. Around one quarter of surveyed employers, however, were only willing to accept a Bachelor degree.
· In addition to qualifications, employers required successful applicants to hold various tickets and certificates.
o These included a Working with Children check, a First Aid certificate (covering both asthma and anaphylaxis), and a Nominated Supervisor Certificate.
· Employers also had a preference for candidates with experience using QikKids (a childcare management software program) and the Microsoft Office Suite.
· Nearly all surveyed employers sought applicants with previous experience in a leadership position.
· Soft skills were highly valued, with employers seeking child care centre managers with strong written and verbal communication, effective team leadership skills and the ability to foster relationships with both staff members and parents.
· Surveyed vacancies were for child care centre manager positions in a variety of settings, such as not-for-profit and specialist centres. The size of the centres varied from 40 to 100 places, with ages serviced commonly from six weeks to six years.
Unsuitable applicants
· All applicants who lacked formal qualifications were considered to be unsuitable.
· Qualified applicants were considered to be unsuitable because they lacked experience such as leadership and management experience or the requisite number of years of experience sought by the employer.
· Employers reported some qualified applicants were deemed unsuitable as they were not the right fit for the organisation.
Demand and supply trends
· Demand for the occupation has grown in recent years due to rising underlying demand for early childhood education and care services and increased government funding for these services.
o In March 2016, the number of children using childcare services in NSW was around 419,000, an increase of 25 per cent over three years.[1]
o The number of approved long day care and outside school hours care service providers increased by 12.3 per cent over the three years to March 2016.[2]
· In October 2014 the Productivity Commission provided to the Australian Government the final report of its inquiry into Childcare and Early Childhood Learning.[3] In May 2015 the government announced, as part of the 2015-16 Budget, a Child Care Assistance Package which includes spending almost $40 billion on child care support over four years.[4]
· Supply to this occupation has also been increasing.
o Data from the NSW Department of Education indicates that the number of certified supervisor applications that had been approved as at 30 September 2016 was around 5.3 per cent higher than a year earlier.[5]
o The number of primary applicant 457 temporary skilled migration visas granted for Child Care Centre Managers averaged about 19 per annum in the three years ended 2015-16.[6]
Labour Economics Office New South Wales
Department of Employment
[1] Australian Government Department of Education and Training, Early Childhood and Child Care in Summary, various issues.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Productivity Commission, Inquiry Report, Childcare and Early Learning, 31 October 2014.
[4] Department of Social Security, 2015-16 Budget, Child Care Assistance Package, May 2015.
[5] Unpublished data from NSW Department of Education.
[6] Department of Immigration and Border Protection, https://data.gov.au/dataset/visa-temporary-work-skilled.