CERTIFIED SUPERVISOR DRAMAS

[DayCareEducators]

Hi everyone,
I work for a centre in a rural area. We are having so much trouble finding Certified Supervisors, it is causing major hassles for our centre with some staff working 12 hour days to cover the requirements. Does anyone else have trouble in this area? I have heard a rumour they are going to abolish the Certified Supervisor thing - does anyone know anything about this?
Thank you in advance

[Lorina]

Working 12 hours a day is just crazy and no one should be put under that amount of stress and strain just to cover the centre.

All a certified supervisor is, is an educator who holds a supervisor certificate. Any educator can be a certified supervisor as long as they meet the requirements. They are different from a nominated supervisor as they don't have the same responsibilities or liabilities as a nominated supervisor but are placed in day to day charge of the centre. Also, a service can have as many certified supervisors needed for that particular centre.

Here is some more information:

Certified Supervisor
Certified and Nominated Supervisors

Hopefully you will be able to figure something out,

,
L.A

[DayCareEducators]

Thanks for you reply - it is crazy working 12 hours a day. But we just don't have the staff that meet the requirements to be certified supervisors and cant seem to find any out here. Very difficult and frustrating. I think there should be some sort of exemption or exception to the rule for those in remote or rural areas, our Approved Provider could do it, but she is reluctant and has no idea about childcare and just doesn't seem to care that the staff have to work these ridiculous hours!

[Lorina]

Great you have an approved provider that doesn't really care.... I hope these educators working these hours are getting paid overtime at least. I think you should contact ACECQA and let them know your situation and see what else can be done about it. Seriously no staff should be made to work 12 hours in a day, it's not fair at all!

ACECQA Contact Details:

enquiries@acecqa.gov.au
1300 422 327

By the way, how many staff are in your centre per day? How many Diploma? How many with more than 3 years experience?

,
L.A

[DayCareEducators]

Our Centre has 3 Educators who are Diploma qualified but one is also Nom Supervisor for a OSHC service so only available for lunchtime relief mainly. We have found ourselves often in the situation where there is only one Certified Supervisor available so to ensure regulations are not breached that person has to work 6am - 6pm. We have had other Educators apply for their Certified Supervisor Certificate but their applications have been denied. I think there should be some kind of exemption for centres in small rural areas who just do not have the qualified staff available. We do not all work in big city centres where Educators with Certified Supervisor certificates are easy to find.

[Lorina]

I completely agree with you. There should be some exemptions for rural areas. I can't believe that they would reject an application... I thought it was just formality and part of the process... Maybe you could somehow employ the OOSH worker at the centre half the day to cover the requirement so the other Certified Supervisor can maybe work a split shift rather than a complete 12 hours. You should definitely contact ACECQA and see what they say about it...

Hopefully you can figure something out...

,
L.A

[tschildcare]

Yes I am the president of our local community operated childcare centre in rural WA and as we only have one full time certified supervising officer who is our nominated supervising officer and myself who has 3 young children (only 1 at school) and another women who works else where part time and only available two half days a week we have had to close on a number of occasions when out nominated supervising officer is sick. It is a nightmare I had a baby June last year and found myself in there sometimes with my baby working in the office just so I was on the premises so we could open and working basically to allowing others to go to work as once I paid reduced fees for the 2 kids it wasn't worth it. They have announced changes but I think that is to do with the process of becoming certified to reduce the time it takes once application submitted (approximately 60 days)

[Lorina]

Yes I am the president of our local community operated childcare centre in rural WA and as we only have one full time certified supervising officer who is our nominated supervising officer and myself who has 3 young children (only 1 at school) and another women who works else where part time and only available two half days a week we have had to close on a number of occasions when out nominated supervising officer is sick. It is a nightmare I had a baby June last year and found myself in there sometimes with my baby working in the office just so I was on the premises so we could open and working basically to allowing others to go to work as once I paid reduced fees for the 2 kids it wasn't worth it. They have announced changes but I think that is to do with the process of becoming certified to reduce the time it takes once application submitted (approximately 60 days)

Obviously there is a problem with the whole "certified supervisor" issue within rural areas. I bet the parents weren't happy at all when you had to keep the centre closed and you shouldn't have to go in with your baby as well... I don't think that is right. I mean we never had certified supervisors before so why now? I think this can cause such an issue for rural centres... They should be lenient to some centres who are not able to cover this part of the regulation...

,
L.A

[DayCareEducators]

Hi Everyone,
That sounds very similar to our situation - so wrong that you had to go to work with your baby just so they can be open, we find ourselves doing things like that too I think that we should have some exemptions here, we have perfectly great staff that could be certified supervisors but because of them only having 2 years experience and only studying their diploma they have been refused their certificate. I hope they abolish the whole things sooner rather then later, its a ridiculous idea!