Chapter 2: Establish a new National Early Childhood Worker Register
This chapter recommends establishment of a National Early Childhood Worker Register and legislative powers for regulators to remove unsuitable people from the register. It also recommends that the Victorian Early Childhood Workforce Register that is being developed takes account of this Review’s findings and is built to be compatible with the National Register.
2.1 Establishing a National Register of early childhood education and care workers
The Review heard repeatedly from service leaders, approved providers, and peak bodies that it is difficult for employers and regulators to get an accurate picture of a person’s credentials and work history. The onus is on each individual employer to assess and verify a person’s qualifications and prior employment, which often hinges on individuals being honest. While most educators do the right thing, the absence of a register creates opportunities for bad actors to abuse the system, by lying about their work experience or omitting information about past complaints, investigations or terminations. It can also make it difficult for authorities to identify which centres or families may be affected when an alleged perpetrator is charged.
In Victoria, 17.1 per cent of ECEC workers have a bachelor degree or higher qualification in a teaching field. Many of these workers are likely registered with the Victorian Institute of Teaching. These registered ECEC teachers are subject to a rigorous registration process with ongoing obligations to prove their continued suitability to teach and maintain a minimum standard of practice and learning requirements.
For the remaining more than 80 per cent of ECEC workers with regular contact with children in a service, the Working with Children Check system is relied upon as a screening tool to clear them for child-related work in the sector. Unlike Victorian Institute of Teaching registration, a Working with Children Check does not confirm the qualifications or suitability of a person to work with children (Working with Children Check is discussed in more detail at Chapter 4).
The Review heard strong support for an early childhood education and care workers register. Victoria is already taking the first steps to create a register, launching the Early Childhood Workforce Register (Victorian Register) in August 2025. It will be implemented through a phased program of work to capture information about employees at a service who have regular contact with children. The Review understands the first phase of the Victorian Register captures service employees and that the next phase (due to be delivered later in 2025) will capture agency staff. Noting the high number of casuals in the sector, this is an important next step. The Victorian Register also needs to adapt to the findings from this Review, including to make sure it has the fields necessary to capture employee histories and any disciplinary actions or investigations, alongside being built to be compatible with the national register.
Stakeholders overwhelmingly told the Review that a national register should be the priority, to avoid unsafe and unsuitable workers avoiding detection and scrutiny by moving between jurisdictions, and to make it easier for both employers and parents to access basic information about an individual working in a service.
2.2 Legislative powers to remove people from the register
Establishing a register alone will not address a person’s suitability to work in the ECEC sector, or whether they should be removed. The Review heard strong support for a regulatory authority to have the ability to suspend or remove a person from the Register. Like the Register, stakeholders overwhelmingly called for a nationally consistent approach. This would need changes to the National Law to allow state and territory ECEC regulators to perform this function in a consistent way.
Stakeholders supported a national register and legislative powers, because it would:
- create a single source of truth, allowing authorised regulators and employers to access essential background and relevant risk information (including about historical and current substantiated and unsubstantiated child safety data) about any educator or worker
- offer searchable information for employers and families to confirm the eligibility of applicants to work in the sector (by verifying a person has relevant qualifications and training and has not been struck off the register)
- facilitate the sharing of child safety risks between jurisdictions to facilitate a more complete picture of concerning patterns of behaviour and early identification of risks by reducing the need for time-consuming manual processes for employers and regulatory authorities.
Admission to the National Register should, at a minimum, require:
- a Working with Children Check (or equivalent)
- necessary minimum qualifications (where applicable), or reflect if a person is working towards a qualification, or a trainee or student; and
- completion of mandatory child safety training.
The National Register should include fields covering:
- personal details (full name, date of birth, contact)
- employment history (start date, cease date)
- if the person is currently subject to any complaints, workplace investigations or disciplinary proceedings (and the nature of these)
- if the person is excluded (by a prescribed relevant state or territory regulatory authority) from working in the ECEC sector, or if any conditions have been imposed on the individual; and
- the minimum admission requirements outlined above.
Access to information on the National Early Childhood Worker Register could be differentiated between employers and regulators, recognising the different levels of information needed for each audience.
People who are found to be unsafe or unsuitable to work in the sector should be removed from the National Register without delay, and the relevant regulator should have powers to receive a broad range of information and act on it. In Victoria, consideration should be given to how the new Shared Intelligence and Risk Assessment capability could support this decision making and avoid duplication of effort across the system.
Over time, a worker registration scheme could be considered, which means moving towards the types of models in teaching and allied health, with ongoing professional development requirements and support. However, the Review heard that this should be carefully planned, consider the workforce mix of the sector and other policy objectives that have not been the focus of this child safety review. This is something that could be considered as part of the broader Early Childhood and Education and Care 10-year plan reforms. At this point in time, the Review heard concern that low-paid educators could not be expected to afford the kind of fees that other better-paid professions pay for registration and that a cost/benefit analysis of proceeding down this path would be required.
Recommendation 4: National Early Childhood Worker Register 4.1 Accelerate a National Early Childhood Worker Register covering all early childhood education and care staff across Australia who have regular contact with children, including casual staff. The Commonwealth Government should host the Register, and access to information should be differentiated for regulators and employers. 4.2 Amend the National Law to give regulators the ability to de-register individuals based on an assessment of their suitability to work in ECEC settings. 4.3 Victoria should ensure the design of its Register is consistent with the findings of this Review, and be designed in a way that it will be compatible with a National Register. |
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