Despite lip service being paid to the importance of early education, little is being done to encourage early education staff to stay in the profession, QUT education researchers wrote in The Conversation.
Dr Susan Irvine said a survey found that one in five early childhood educators plans to leave their job in the next 12 months.
Of the 1200 early childhood educators and degree qualified teachers working in long day care centres and preschools across Australia who were surveyed, around one in five said they planned to leave their job within a year because of low pay, feeling undervalued and increasing time spent on paperwork.
Dr Irvine said educators who took up further training or upgraded to an early childhood teaching degree were most likely to leave.
"This means that some of our most qualified educators are choosing to leave the profession early in their career," She said.
"Young educators who entered the profession because they liked the idea of working with children are also leaving. This is mainly because their experience is not matching their expectations.
This is intellectually, emotionally and physically demanding work and there are qualification requirements for all educators.
Professor Karen Thorpe said to work in long day care, educators need a vocational qualification (certificate III or diploma).
"Teachers in long day care and preschools have an education degree, often the same qualification as teachers in schools. Yet, wages and conditions are poor by comparison, particularly in long day care," Professor Thorpe said.
"This may be linked to the gender pay gap and the fact that 94% of this workforce is female. A female-dominated workforce is often associated with lower wages within particular sectors. Government distinctions between care and education, and overemphasis on childcare to support parent workforce participation are also unhelpful and devalue the professional work of educators and teachers in these services."
Read the full article at The Conversation.
