The ongoing discussion about educator shortages in early childhood education raises an important question: Should parents be expected to pay higher fees so centres can employ more educators?
While few would disagree that services need more educators, asking families to carry the financial burden is neither fair nor sustainable.
Across Australia, parents are already facing significant cost-of-living pressures. Mortgage repayments, rent increases, groceries, fuel, utilities, insurance, and childcare fees continue to rise. For many families, childcare is already one of the largest household expenses, even after government subsidies are applied. Adding further fee increases to fund additional staffing risks placing quality early learning out of reach for the very families the sector is designed to support.
Yet there is no denying that the sector urgently needs more educators.
Workforce shortages remain one of the biggest challenges facing early childhood education and care. Surveys conducted by the Australian Childcare Alliance found that workforce shortages have forced many services to cap enrolments because they simply cannot recruit enough qualified educators to meet demand. Providers have repeatedly identified recruitment and retention as one of their greatest challenges, affecting both service availability and quality.
More educators would undoubtedly benefit children, families, and services. Smaller group sizes, stronger relationships, greater continuity of care, improved supervision, reduced staff stress, and better educational outcomes all flow from adequately staffed services. The question is not whether we need more educators. The question is who should pay for them.
Parents should not be the answer.
The workforce challenges facing the sector are not the result of families paying too little. They are the result of broader workforce and policy issues that require government-led solutions. Early childhood education and care is no longer viewed simply as a babysitting service. It is recognised as essential social and economic infrastructure that supports children's development and enables parents, particularly women, to participate in the workforce.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) identified workforce shortages as a major issue affecting both the supply and quality of childcare services. Its final childcare enquiry highlighted the importance of attracting and retaining educators and recommended governments consider how existing regulatory and funding frameworks can better support workforce outcomes.
Significantly, governments have already acknowledged that workforce investment should not come solely from parents' pockets.
The Australian Government's Worker Retention Payment provides funding directly to services to support wage increases for educators while placing limits on fee growth. The initiative was designed specifically to improve educator attraction and retention without passing the full cost onto families. Funding supports wage increases while requiring providers to pass those increases on to eligible workers.
This is the type of policy approach that should be expanded.
Rather than increasing fees for families, governments should continue investing in workforce-focused initiatives such as:
- Wage subsidies and retention payments
- Scholarships and traineeship programs
- Professional development funding
- Regional and remote workforce incentives
- Leadership and career pathway programs
- Wellbeing initiatives to reduce burnout and improve retention
Australia already has a roadmap for this work. The National Children's Education and Care Workforce Strategy (Shaping Our Future) was developed to strengthen attraction, retention, professional recognition, wellbeing and career pathways across the sector, recognising that workforce sustainability is a shared national responsibility.
Many educators are working under increasing pressure, covering vacancies, supporting complex needs, and striving to maintain quality outcomes for children despite ongoing workforce shortages. More educators would improve conditions for staff and experiences for children.
However, expecting parents to solve this problem through ever-increasing fees is not the answer.
Families are already contributing through childcare fees and taxes. The responsibility for building a sustainable early childhood workforce should sit with governments, policymakers, and the funding structures that support the sector. If Australia genuinely values early childhood education, then investment in educators must be treated in the same way we invest in schools, healthcare, and other essential services.
Parents should not have to choose between affordability and quality.
With the right combination of government funding, targeted grants, workforce incentives, and long-term policy reform, Australia can have both: affordable childcare for families and enough educators to deliver the high-quality early learning experiences every child deserves.
Further Reading
Enough With “In Ratio”: Why Minimum Staffing Standards Fail Educators and Children
Safe Ratio Recommendations in Early Childhood Services
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