Reform puts teachers in charge

BushKidz teacher Sharon Munce with Gracie Hyde, 4, and Charlotte Brown, 4.

David Nielsen

BUSHKIDZ Daycare centres in Ipswich are meeting the Federal Government's education reform demands years in advance.

Fully qualified teachers are being employed to teach their older children.

Company director Brent Stokes said this move was groundbreaking in Ipswich for the long day care sector.

Under the government reform, university-educated teachers must teach children aged from 3.5 to five years for a minimum 15 hours a week by January 1, 2014.

Mr Stokes said parents would pay no more at this stage.

“We've absorbed the extra costs,” he said.

“It's cementing us as an educational facility rather than a play facility.

“The government has done a funding scheme to help offset the teachers' wages.”

Sharon Munce, a teacher at Bushkidz Blacksoil, has spent 15 years in the child care industry.

She said it was nice to have her qualifications recognised.

“I think it's a good move,” she said.

“Children learn more in the first five years than they do for the rest of their lives. They can come here and do an educational program.

“We can do that little bit more. Our learning is through play. We do it in a fun way.

“We're trying to give the children a good start.”