The hidden workload: Why educators shouldn’t be responsible for cleaning

With illness rates rising and workforce pressures intensifying, the case for a national Childcare Cleaning Standard has never been clearer.

 

Cleaning Is Compliance: Why Australia Needs a National Childcare Cleaning Standard (CCS)

 

A missing compliance pillar is exposing children, educators, and services to preventable, system‑wide risks, and the sector can no longer absorb the cost of inaction.

 

“Without a national Childcare Cleaning Standard, we are leaving a critical compliance gap wide open. Preventable illness, educator burnout, and service instability are not isolated issues, they are symptoms of a systemic risk the sector can no longer absorb.” Lindsay Smith

 

Australia’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector is entering a period of unprecedented reform. With strengthened National Law and Regulations commencing in December 2025, compliance is no longer a procedural obligation, it is the backbone of quality, safety, and public trust. Providers are being asked to demonstrate stronger governance, clearer accountability, and more transparent operational practices than ever before.

 

Yet one compliance‑critical function remains largely unaddressed: cleaning. Infection control, hygiene management, and environmental safety are fundamental to children’s wellbeing, but these responsibilities are still commonly absorbed by educators who are already stretched thin. As illness rates rise and workforce pressures intensify, the absence of a national Childcare Cleaning Standard (CCS) is emerging as a systemic risk that undermines both child safety and workforce sustainability.

 

The Problem We Are Not Addressing

 

ECEC is the only part of the education system where educators are responsible for both teaching and cleaning. In schools, these functions are separated, teachers teach, and trained cleaning staff manage hygiene and infection control.

 

This structural difference matters. Children in childcare experience significantly higher illness rates than school‑aged children, with some attending childcare experiencing up to 12–20 viral illnesses per year. The Australian Government’s Healthdirect service notes that young children in group care environments experience more frequent infections due to close contact, shared surfaces, and developing immune systems.

 

Children in centre‑based childcare also experience higher illness rates than children in home‑based care, where smaller group sizes and fewer shared surfaces reduce exposure pathways. This reinforces the need for dedicated infection‑control standards tailored to early learning environments.

 

In childcare settings, floors are primary contact surfaces, not passive ones. Crawling, play, and mouthing behaviours create direct, high‑frequency pathways for pathogen transmission. Treating floors as low‑risk ignores the realities of infant and toddler development.

 

The Three Pillars of a Childcare Cleaning Standard

 

A national CCS establishes the governance structure the sector currently lacks. Its foundation rests on three pillars:

 

1. Role Separation – Educators focus on pedagogy and relationships. Trained cleaning professionals manage infection control, hygiene, and environmental safety.

1. Governance and Accountability – Cleaning becomes a defined, auditable operational function aligned with the National Quality Framework, not an informal task absorbed by educators.

1. Compliance Clarity – Providers gain a consistent, sector‑specific framework for meeting hygiene and safety obligations, reducing ambiguity and strengthening service stability. This is not an operational preference, it is a governance requirement.

 

Child Safety Through Professional Standards

 

Healthcare‑grade cleaning protocols, adapted specifically for early childhood environments, are essential to reducing illness outbreaks and safeguarding children. The Childcare Cleaning Standard (CCS) White paper outlines how reclassifying floors from low‑risk to “critical risk zones” strengthens infection control and aligns with national child‑safety priorities.

 

Professionalised cleaning standards ensure:

 

• consistent infection‑control practices
• correct chemical selection and dilution
• appropriate dwell times
• targeted cleaning of high‑touch and high‑risk zones
• reduced cross‑contamination

 

This is not simply an operational improvement, it is a child‑safety imperative.

 

Workforce Liberation and Sustainability

 

The CCS approach complements reforms already underway, including enhanced provider accountability and expanded regulatory powers under the National Quality Framework. These reforms recognise that educators cannot continue absorbing non‑educational duties without consequences for quality, wellbeing, and retention.

 

ACECQA’s workforce data highlights persistent challenges in retention and workload pressures. Current estimates show educators spend 4–6 hours per week on unpaid cleaning and administrative tasks, contributing directly to burnout and turnover rates of 30–35% annually.

 

By professionalising cleaning as a distinct compliance‑critical role, CCS:

 

• removes non‑educational workload from educators
• improves job satisfaction and retention
• supports educators to focus on pedagogy
• strengthens service compliance and operational consistency

 

This aligns with the government’s broader reform agenda to address educator retention and workforce sustainability.

 

The Economic Case for Reform

 

Economic modelling reveals CCS delivers a 166% return on investment, driven by reduced recruitment costs, fewer illness‑related absences, and improved family retention.

 

Key drivers of ROI include:

 

• reduced staff turnover
• fewer sick days and replacement costs
• improved operational efficiency
• increased family confidence and enrolment stability

 

By addressing operational inefficiencies, specifically the misallocation of educator time to non‑educational tasks, CCS creates financial headroom that can be redirected toward quality improvements or fee stabilisation.

 

Building Family Trust

 

Family confidence is the cornerstone of successful childcare services. Parents expect and deserve, assurance that their children are learning in environments that are safe, hygienic, and professionally maintained.

 

CCS strengthens this trust through:

 

• visible accreditation
• independent audits
• transparent reporting systems
• clear evidence of compliance

 

In a competitive market where families have increasing choice, visible hygiene standards are becoming a differentiator.

 

A Call to Action

 

The CCS White Paper positions cleaning reform as a complementary lever to Australia’s national priorities: child safety, workforce sustainability, public health preparedness, and affordability. Recognising cleaning as a professionalised, compliance‑critical role is not optional, it is essential for the future of Australian childcare.

 

As reforms reshape the sector, the question is no longer if CCS should be adopted, but how quickly we can implement standards that protect children, support educators, and build family trust. The evidence is clear, the risks are mounting, and the sector is ready for change.

 

Author

 

Lindsay Smith is the Founder of BLB Childcare Cleaning and author of the Childcare Cleaning Standard (CCS), Australia’s first published cleaning governance standard for ECEC environments. She advocates for professionalised cleaning roles to improve child health, strengthen compliance, and support educator wellbeing across the sector.