(Image: Mitchell Squire/Private Media)

The dreaded phone call came sooner than I expected.

It was January 6, and I was at the beach on a much-anticipated holiday when I got the message that a COVID-19 case had been detected at one of our largest early childhood education and care services in Canberra.

What followed was a chaotic and stressful period of rapid response. Me and my incredible team leapt into action: calling the regulator; then the ACT government; then notifying parents and educators; creating a spreadsheet of contacts for ACT Health; coordinating the service closure and COVID clean; supporting staff with their isolation; notifying other organisations that share a building with the service… The list went on.

We worked until 12.45am — and there was little let-up for days.

What we didn’t know was that this was just the first go-round of a ride we would become very accustomed to over the first few weeks of this year. We have undergone the process of shutting down and reopening six services this year alone. No doubt there will be many to come as Omicron continues to tear through our community.

The early childhood sector is not alone in being significantly impacted by COVID but as we enter the third year of the pandemic we can’t help but wonder how much longer we can continue without meaningful support from governments.

Aside from the enormous emotional and mental stress on educators when managing exposures at our services, there is a large economic impact. When a service is forced to close the parents understandably expect the gap fee to be waived. But this means services are facing periods of earning 50% or less of their usual income while having the same expenses.

The flow-on effect is significant — on the viability of our services, to the continuing employment of what is a highly feminised workforce. It compromises our ability to keep providing the quality education and care for children which enables women — the vast majority of caregivers — to go to work.

Early childhood education is typically undervalued. We know this because of the continued issue of low wages for educators and a lack of recognition of the sector’s professionalism. It’s timely to remember the infamous 2017 statement by then senator David Leyonhjelm that childcare jobs are basically “wiping noses and stopping kids from killing each other”. 

I would love to say that government has moved on from this thinking but unfortunately evidence and inaction clearly demonstrates this is not the case. 

At the time of writing I note that Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a retention bonus payment for aged care workers. Although the amount on offer would appear to some as paltry, there was again no mention of the early childhood sector and the staffing challenges we face.

I have a large team of passionate and dedicated educators who are proud of the work they do and are driven to give children a strong educational foundation in their early years — something that is widely recognised as having a significant effect on children’s futures.

But with the risk, anxiety and lack of support, we’re facing a drain of talent as educators exit in droves, unable to justify the stress of continuous infections and closures and the fear of contracting and spreading the virus.

With each case that’s detected at one of our services, staff must isolate, and this means that we’re often scrambling to get our ratios for educators when we reopen, which in turn creates more uncertainty and confusion for staff and parents.

And for those who are isolating, accessing disaster payments is complex and confusing, adding to their broader stress. Staff are genuinely concerned they will run out of leave entitlements and will have to exist on $750 a week, assuming this payment remains accessible.

If it’s difficult to navigate support payment availability and eligibility as an individual, trying to assess and apply for disaster relief payments as a service provider is equally opaque and convoluted.

When will the government stop seeing COVID as a one-off disaster and undertake a more rigorous assessment of how to properly support our sector? This is not a temporary crisis — it is the new normal.

The directors of our services have reported an increased feeling of burnout and anxiety within their teams as they look forward to a year where this scenario could be on repeat without a clear end in sight.

No matter what way you look at it, things can’t continue as is without having severe ramifications for the sector, for children’s educational and care outcomes — and for the millions of parents who rely on early childhood services across the country.

If COVID is here to stay, and it looks like it is, urgent action is needed to make sure our educators stay in the sector as well.