A Hobson’s choice is one in which only a single realistic option is available and any other options are illusionary or unrealistic. To meet their family’s financial needs, many parents find that there is little choice but for both to be working. Where support from extended family or friends is unavailable, Hobson offers a single realistic choice: daycare.
Choosing a daycare centre for their child is challenging for parents. They are confronted with a wide variety of parameters that must be researched and assessed. A daycare centre may be run for profit or not-for-profit, offer a wide range of educational programs, locations, opening and closing times, cost (of course), staff levels and training. Parents have to determine which of these elements are most important for them and spend significant amounts of time visiting centres scattered around their home or work (and in between).
According to the Centre Director at Goodstart West Pymble, it is noticeable during her conversations with parents that there is great interest in Goodstart’s not-for-profit business model. Parents comparing daycare centres do consider it a positive that the profits are fed back into the centre to improve services and quality of care. This became an important consideration when ABC Learning, a for-profit childcare organisation running more than 700 centres across Australia, collapsed in November 2008.
The childcare industry operates under significant legislation and financial rules, which were strengthened after the ABC Learning collapse. The Sydney Morning Herald, in its January 2009 article, Lessons to be learnt from ABC Learning’s collapse, identified the rapid acquisition and questionable accounting practices that were allowed to flourish. This was despite third-party auditing having been conducted in the months leading up to the collapse. Enhanced enforcement of rules regarding the actions of auditing firms was at least one welcome outcome of the investigation into ABC Learning’s financial practices.
ABC’s PM radio program in December 2009 also explored the immediate outcomes after ABC Learning’s collapse. Goodstart, a consortium of a number of charities, including Mission Australia and The Brotherhood of St Laurence, bought almost 700 ABC Learning centres. Of immediate concern to parents at the time was the seamless transition of ongoing care and education for their children across the acquired centres. Many children need routine and familiarity to feel comfortable. Goodstart recognised these needs and responded to a rare opportunity to acquire centres that represented 15% of the market at the time.
The differences between for-profit and not-for-profit childcare services are worth considering, even by parents whose primary goal is working out where to place their child, often from a limited set of options. There are important differences that affect the services and quality of staff provided for enrolled children. The source of funding is primarily from the government for not-for-profits (further supported by fees) and solely from fees for profit-based centres. Anne Connolly’s 2011 article in the Sydney Morning Herald, provides anecdotal evidence of at least one concern regarding for-profit centres: they have a significant financial imperative that can limit the quality of care and place undue stress on staff. The collapse of ABC Learning showed that, without rigorous regulatory oversight, there are opportunities for the profit model to fail. Much of a Centre Director’s role at Goodstart includes ensuring limited profits are spent wisely: “not-for-profits have to spend their profit and use ideas and initiatives that support the growth of the individuals and be able to explore more ideas and options.”
A significant concern is the insufficient number of qualified people available to work in childcare centres. Goodstart sponsors people who want to work in the industry, which allows students to gain experience while studying. According to the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority, the National Quality Framework defines the minimum qualifications required to be an early childhood teacher. As of this writing, a certificate III level education and care qualification is required.
Being a not-for-profit organisation, Goodstart must roll any profits back into the business. This profit can be spent on providing sponsorship for people who want to work as educators in the childcare industry. This assistance supports new entrants into the industry as they gain experience, income and qualifications. Despite this program and similar ones elsewhere, there are not enough trained educators available. Goodstart centres also roll any profits back into improving services and general upkeep of centres across the organisation.
A key perception that is changing (in many ways forcibly by exasperated childcare educators) is that childcare at centres such as those run by Goodstart or Only About Children is not babysitting, but rather, genuine education and care. With low social perception of the quality of their care, comes social acceptance of low salaries for childcare educators. Studies have shown that effective early childhood care also helps to prevent childhood obesity, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics article ‘Early Child Care and Education: A Key Component of Obesity Prevention in Infancy’.
Across a 12-month period in 2017 to 2018, educators conducted three strikes, aimed at protesting poor salary outcomes and unrealistically low government funding. An article in The Guardian, written by Neha Kale in March of 2018, reiterates how limited government and social understanding of the benefits of daycare are in stark contrast to strong acceptance of sufficient funding for primary schools. Childcare educators (around 95% of whom are female) are often not paid a living wage and their undeniable passion for the care and education of children is not enough to pay the bills.
The Childcare Education Institute, in their May 2009 newsletter mentioned that amongst all the necessary requirements that parents must consider, they ultimately want their child to be safe and looked after in a playful and caring environment. Further, research published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly, based on a survey of 100 parents in 15 daycare centres in Sydney, found that parents consider education conducted by qualified staff as very important.
For many parents, the research, legislation, industry improvements after centre collapses, and the funding models all pale into insignificance against the practicalities of getting to and from work while coordinating drop-off and pick-up from daycare. Hobson’s illusion of choice features prominently. The limited opportunities to drop-off and pick up children around getting to-and-from work requires a time-efficiency that precludes any childcare centres outside a narrow band between home and work. With choice actually limited to a question of logistics, parents rely on a strong childcare industry with well-trained and remunerated educators to provide the best possible care for their children.
