2 months ago
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Most Australians do not support banning male educators from working with young children, polling reveals, as the nation scrambles to address safety concerns across the childcare sector.
The polling, conducted by DemosAU, surveyed 1199 Australians after the case of a Melbourne childcare worker charged last week with sexually abusing children and infants in his care.
Despite some calls from sexual abuse victims’ families, less than a quarter of respondents wanted men banned entirely, although the figure was higher for parents with children under five.
Brisbane mother of two Katie Vandevelde does not think men should be banned from early education settings. Credit: Courtney Kruk
Brisbane mother-of-two Katie Vandevelde was among those to support men working in early education, saying one of her children had had an “amazing” male educator at his centre.
She said she was surprised by the extent of negative commentary shared on local mums’ social media groups.
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“I was shocked [by] how strongly people felt against males … saying things like, ‘there must be something wrong with a male if he wants to work with children’,” she said.
“I don’t agree with that at all.”
Vandevelde was also positive about her daughter’s daycare centre, and had “absolute faith” in the measures taken to keep children safe.
Goodstart, a not-for-profit provider, began trialling CCTV in some of its 650 centres in 2022 and made installation standard in all new centres.
They said CCTV should not detract from the need to ensure centres were adequately staffed with quality educators.
“Active supervision by qualified and well-trained educators and teachers working in a centre – where children always remain visible – is the key to safeguarding children,” a Goodstart spokesperson said.
Three days ago, Vandevelde’s daughter came home from daycare with a new song – “these are my private parts, these are my private parts” – sung with hand gestures pointing to her chest and lap.
“I talk to [my kids] every day after school and daycare and ask them what they got up to,” she said.
“I’m always checking in: has anyone done this or that? What happened?
“I feel like having good communication and making sure you educate them on what’s right and wrong, and that no one should be touching you here and there, is [important].”
The state’s education minister is meeting with leaders and childcare stakeholders in Cairns on Wednesday for a roundtable to discuss safety measures, with another to be held in Brisbane next week.
Discussion points include banning the use of mobile phones, installing CCTV across more centres and adding more people to the regulatory authority.
“What we need to do is make sure that as a government, we work together with all these stakeholders so that we can take the sector with us,” John-Paul Langbroek said.
“Because the government can make the rules, but we’ve got to have the cultural ability and understanding of over 53,000 workers.”
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