The Importance And Prospects Of Childcare Centers In Australia

Child Rights and Acts Recognized by International Bodies

Discuss about the Child Care Center for Convention on the Rights of the Child.
 

The Childcare centers are proving to be an essential part of the Australian society as more and more Australian families are opting for enrolling their child in the childcare centers. The essence of childcare centers has only increased exponentially over the years due to the increasing number of Australian families comprising of both the parents being employed and working. The Government of Australia also provides relief to the parents who have their child enrolled in the childcare center. The assignment deals with the prospect of launching a child care centre in Australia and which aspects to focus while creating the child care centers. The important child rights and acts passed by the international bodies must be strictly adhered to in order to provide for the welfare of the child.

Children are guaranteed human rights by almost all the international bodies of the world such as the United Nations, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the UNESCO. The rights guaranteed to the children include the right to have basic needs such as protection, right to education,, right to have association with the parents, need for physical protection, right to food and the right to health. The children are also guaranteed protection from any type of discrimination whether it be on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, color or gender. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) states that children are to be guaranteed political, social, economic and the social rights. The Convention is ratified by all the international countries and has compliance with all the international laws.  The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child assesses the compliance and this body submits an annual report to the United Nations General Assembly. Every year, the United Nations analyses and assesses the situation of the plight of children and recommends the member countries to formulate plans and reforms to safeguard the rights and freedom of the children (Humanrights.gov.au, 2018). The atrocities committed against children, such as rape, abuse and discrimination are strictly condoned by the International bodies and the United Nations formulates policies to safeguard the interests of the child (Brown 2016). These rights and guidelines must be strictly adhered to by the Child care centers so that the child does not face any discrimination or prejudice while they are at the child care centers. 

Childcare Sector Growth in Australia

The childcare sector has grown exponentially in Australia over the last few decades. Either the majority of the Australians being employed in some form of employment and majority of the Australian families comprising of both the parents being employed, hence, it becomes important to hire a nanny or a babysitter for overseeing the child or getting the child enrolled in a childcare centre (Grisham-Brown, Hemmeter and Pretti-Frontczak 2015). The child care industry has grown to become a billion dollar industry over the years with as many as 14 per cent of the Australian toddlers enrolled in child care centers compared to a mere 6 per cent of the British toddlers or the higher 23 per cent of the U.S. toddlers. The current statistics reveal that 600 000 Australian children under the age of 11 years are enrolled in the day care services (Aph.gov.au, 2018). With the advent of time, it is observed that the children enrolled under the day care services are not only from the affluent families but there has been enrollment of children belonging from the poorer households as well. Even some children are enrolled whose parents are not employed in any organization or government agency. This reveals the fact that the child care centers in Australia have become an essential part of the Australian society (Pate et al. 2015). The importance of the childcare center is going to increase in the future as more and more Australian families are preferring child care centers to enroll their child. 

The importance given to the childcare centers by the Government of Australia can be interpreted from the fact that by the 1990s about $1.5billion was allocated to the child care centre (Aph.gov.au, 2018). The Government of Australia provides the Childcare Assistance to the parents who have their children enrolled in the childcare services. The benefit of this assistance is that the fees of the children are reduced for the parents who have enrolled their children in the various types of childcare such as long day care, family day care and other pre-schools (Melhuish et al. 2015). The assistance given by the Government of Australia highlight the fact that the Childcare services have become a necessity for the Australian families and it is necessary for the caring of the children. The fact that even families where both the parents are not employed and still sending their children to the child care centre reveals the fact that children are able to learn more and develop their cognitive abilities faster in the child care centers (Lamb et al. 2014). With the introduction of so many childcare centers, the childcare centers are now more competitive and cater to provide the best services to the welfare of the child as well as enabling the parents to be relaxed about the safety and security of their child. 

Government Assistance for Childcare Centers

The prospects of childcare centre are immense in Australia. The Government of Australia providing allocation of budget to the child care services in Australia prove the fact that Child Care Centers are becoming extremely important for the Australian society. The debate is ongoing as to what should be the main criteria for the Child care centers, whether the child care centers should emphasize more on the welfare aspect of the child or whether the child care centre should focus more on the educational aspect of the child (Denzin 2017). The eminent educators and policy makers are of the opinion that the children should be provided the educational assistance on a welfare basis. This allows the institution of child care to cater to a holistic service to the child and ensure the overall cognitive as well as academic growth of the child. The challenge for the Government of Australia is to decide upon the framework, which shall act as a guideline for securing the safety and well-being of the child. It is important to ensure that the child care services are secured by enabling the monitoring of the premises by installing CCTV cameras (Greenbaum 2015). There is also an opinion amongst the common people that employing women in the childcare centers can prove beneficial for the children, as women are generally more close to the children. The emotional supports, which will be provided by the women employees will make them, feel comfortable and at ease when the children will be in the childcare centers (Norris 2017). 

Conclusion

From the above analysis, it is clear that the launching of a childcare centre in Australia is a viable option and there are immense prospects which can be achieved by launching the child care center. The Government of Australia allocates special budget for the Child Care center in Australia. The Childcare center can improve their services by employing women and adjoining both the educational as well as the welfare aspects of the child development strategy. The overall emphasis must be on the holistic development of the child which can increase the cognitive ability of the child as well as enable the child to become a better human being. The Child Care Center in Australia is now a social necessity.   

References

Aph.gov.au. 2018. Childcare in Australia: current provision and recent developments – Parliament of Australia. [online] Available at: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/Background_Papers/bp9798/98bp09#MAJOR [Accessed 18 May 2018].

Brown, C.M.E., 2016. A Qualitative Analysis of the Lived Experiences of Childcare Providers Employed at Non-Accredited Childcare Centers Serving Low Income Families.

Denzin, N.K., 2017. Children and their caretakers. In Restructuring American Education (pp. 23-45). Routledge.

Greenbaum, J., Crawford-Jakubiak, J.E. and Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, 2015. Child sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation: health care needs of victims. Pediatrics, 135(3), pp.566-574.

Grisham-Brown, J., Hemmeter, M.L. and Pretti-Frontczak, K., 2017. Blended practices for teaching young children in inclusive settings. Brookes Publishing Company.

Humanrights.gov.au. 2018. Convention on the Rights of the Child | Australian Human Rights Commission. [online] Available at: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/convention-rights-child [Accessed 18 May 2018].

Lamb, M.E., Sternberg, K.J., Hwang, C.P. and Broberg, A.G. eds., 2014. Child care in context: Cross-cultural perspectives. Psychology Press.

Melhuish, E., Ereky-Stevens, K., Petrogiannis, K., Ariescu, A., Penderi, E., Rentzou, K., Tawell, A., Slot, P.L., Broekhuizen, M. and Leseman, P., 2015. A review of research on the effects of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) upon child development.

Norris, D.J., 2017. Comparing Language and Literacy Environments in Two Types of Infant–Toddler Child Care Centers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 45(1), pp.95-101.

Pate, R.R., O’Neill, J.R., Brown, W.H., Pfeiffer, K.A., Dowda, M. and Addy, C.L., 2015. Prevalence of compliance with a new physical activity guideline for preschool-age children. Childhood obesity, 11(4), pp.415-420.