The five biggest ECEC jobs related news stories of 2024 – The year in review

As we approach the end of the year, it has become a tradition at The Sector to conduct a review of the biggest early childhood education and care (ECEC) news stories of the preceding twelve months.

With step changes in educator wages and a renewed focus on building the ECEC workforce we felt it would be useful to extend our traditional “10 biggest stories in the sector theme” to include a new thread focusing on the 5 biggest stories in the jobs, careers and workforce space.

Our list contains a mixture of different themes that include the educator pay increases, the launch of new “right to connect” laws and a gradual shift lower in workforce related demand indicators such as online jobs and waivers. 

Here are the five biggest jobs, careers and workforce stories of 2024:

1. 10 per cent pay increases on the cards for eligible educators

After years of advocacy groups campaigning for better pay for educators it is probably no surprise that the Federal Government’s confirmation that it would stand behind a funded wage increase for eligible educators amounting to 15 per cent over two years is the biggest story of 2024. 

The announcement, made in August of this year, marked the beginning of a period of intense activity for advocacy groups and unions, as well as the Department of Education and approved providers, as they finalised the processes that would make the long awaited increases a reality. 

2. Educator workforce shortages continue to subside

In stark contrast to 2023 when staff waivers outstanding were regularly setting new highs, 2024 saw a reversal of those powerful trends that were also confirmed by extensive falls in the numbers of online ECEC related job ads being posted by approved providers. 

As of September 2024, the overall percentage of LDC services with waivers outstanding were back down to levels recorded in 2022 and ECT, centre manager and educator internet job postings had all fallen back materially signalling that the acute phase of workforce shortages across Australia had most likely passed. 

3. Right to disconnect becomes mandatory clause in all Modern Awards

Another important Labor inspired, legislative change saw new laws dictating when and how ECEC leaders can contact their employees outside of working hours with the changes giving most employees the right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact (or attempted contact) from an employer outside of the working hours – unless such refusal is unreasonable.

In an ECEC context this may look like responding to parent concerns, adjusting rosters to accommodate for last minute changes to availability, or dealing with serious incidents which must be attended to within a certain timeframe and will certainly provide ECEC employees with a bit more protection to manage their wellbeing and work life balance more effectively. 

4. Paid practicum placements expanded to include Diploma and post grad qualifications

In July 2024 ECEC professionals who need to complete practicum (prac) placements as part of their qualifications welcomed an announcement by Minister for Early Childhood Education Dr Anne Aly that they would be able to access payment during their placement period as well as funding to support access specialist professional development.

Educators in both metropolitan and rural, regional and remote Australia became eligible for the expanded Early Childhood Education Workforce package, which opened a paid prac wage subsidy to educators undertaking a Diploma of Early Childhood Education or relevant post-graduate Early Childhood Teaching qualifications, in addition to those completing an Early Childhood Teaching qualification who already had access to this support. The paid prac wage subsidy also doubled to up to eight weeks per semester.

5. ACECQA again extends ECT equivalency rules

The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) again extended the provision of qualifications considered to be equivalent to an early childhood teacher (ECT) in order to “provide time for the sector to meet ECT requirements, particularly in rural and remote areas, while maintaining a commitment to the importance of educational qualifications and experience in early childhood.” 

ACECQA first began extending the provision of qualifications in 2013, with a review date of 2016, and since that time extension of equivalence has been a semi-regular outcome, indicating that there is still an undersupply of ECTs sufficient to meet the needs of the sector.