Aussie Childcare Network Forum

I'm a trainee working in a long day care, so 4 day 38 hour working week, and my position is an Assistant in toddler 2-3 yr old room. I started out as an RDO Aide and they offered me a full time position as an Assistant in the pre-kindy room. It was fantastic, yes stressful at times and sometimes doing my cert took a back seat because I was concentrating so much on room duties and outdoor duties (we have a rather large outdoor area with a bike track, playground, sandpits, grass areas, waterplay and a verandah with various activities set up). I started near the end of the year and found out we have regular room changes to get experience. I applied for the junior kindy room hearing that it was going to be implementing the new changes (smaller room numbers from 12, gradually going down) and thought this meant I could really concentrate on my study and really getting time with the children as I have had wonderful Group Leaders who really allow for input from their Assistants. Long story short I got the room I applied for and was ready for a new beginning. However with our occupancy low overall yet overbooked in the toddler room below us, this meant we had to take on the numbers because our room could technically have 16 children...although I later found out it can't be more than 12 unless they are all over 2.5 yrs old. My group leader went on her 2 week vacation during January which is when we are supposed to be getting our room checklist done so although she did quite a bit, it did not stand out as best as other rooms because she is a single parent taking the time off to experience her child's 1st year of school. So the Director put a lot of pressure on me to get the work done to timeline and set up the room. Unfortunately this let me inexperience shine through. I had no idea what I was doing and what information to put up, where to put things that would create changes to the room for the new EYLF (even though I tried; the Director wanted me to take down my Group Leader's set up and her things and at one point called it "Horrible" to her while she came in one day from her holiday as I stood by changing a child). I understand the frustration but unfortunately this was a dilemma and she asked the Assistant Director to come in and change it. It turned out to be great in my eyes, but at this point I accepted any change to keep the Director happy. I did however disagree with coming in and changing a room setup not of it's teacher's set up, my Group Leader was rather depressed about this. Through all this our staff numbers have been far too low with make-up RDO's, sick days and holidays which means everyone takes the hit. I was for 1 week doing someone elses room position or covering the kitchen aide for a whole days work. When I was in the room there was no constant group leader available so they would often combine classes with the pre-kindy if numbers permitted or move children up and leave the lunch float in there, thankfully she is fantastic and has experience as an SNES teacher so is great with kids. They recently put her in as a constant cover for my group leader until she got back, but she can only work part of the day because they have her doing bus runs to pick up schoolies. This means constant changes, me waiting for someone to arrive in the room, and always covering my own lunch break when time permits. This has all happened in 1 month and is a constant battle to keep up with my work in complete my required study, let alone think about it.

The day that put me over the edge was 14 toddlers, mixed age group of 2.1 - 2.7 yr olds on a day where they were getting the floors cleaned. This meant that during rest time we had to stack everything on shelves and wheel things out of the room-only 1 of us at a time. We hadn't had a lunch break with me working for over 6 hrs without one and my group leader waiting for 4hours so already running out of energy on our humid day and being overwhelmed by the class size and receiving of 4 new children that neither of us have any experience with and one of them who has special needs but is not diagnosed. During this time I was put over to different rooms to help out and then get my break, but unfortunately the special needs child had woken the other children up instantly by screaming which we weren't prepared for (no toys/activities set up). So I had to go over to get the children settle but another child had arrived to the room making it 15 and was wide awake jumping on beds which inturn meant a follow through of other children. I was trying desperately to get sheets into bags, changing and toileting whilst supervising and make it safe with putting beds away. The group leader came back with the child who had calmed down a little and was trying her best to finish nappies while I tried to get belongings back in right place. Group leader had to leave to do bus run and I was left alone with 15 toddlers running around an open room trying to calm the crying ones, calm the special needs child and keep them entertained. A parent arrived at this time as I was trying to calm a child who had just been hit and pushed, looking for his child's blanket (he had wet the bed and my group leader had put it in the bathroom) but I couldn't find it, thinking maybe it was accidentally put in wrong bag in all the commotion. I looked up to see 2 children wheeling 2 other children in an activity shelf across the room, a child climbing ontop of the bed stacks, 1 child pushing down a room divider and another one hitting another child in the face. I ran to as many as I could to stop them and move things but this lead to another thing happening while I couldn't see. I had to pick up a child who was hurt on the ground. I had called out to the next room that I needed someone and I could just feel I was having an anxiety attack. Luckily the parent found the blanket in the bathroom and said thankyou, I said goodbye, embarrassed and panicing. I literally became overwhelmed as it all started back up again and children were screaming/crying/making noises that I just dropped to the ground crying in histerics. I had no idea what to do and the saddest thing was the children came over asking me if I was ok (this sort of helped me get my thought track back on) even though I was still hyperventilating. The new group leader finally arrived and tried to assist me as best she could by finishing toileting and getting the afternoon tea from the kitchen.

I have had about 2 similar anxiety attacks to this due to similar but not as extreme incidents as this at my workplace due to being left with too many children or too much work/no energy waiting for breaks. I have had barely any study time at work as is supposed to be provided because of people doing relief work. I don't want to seem like I can't work as hard as the others because they are stressed with all this happening but are getting through it. Mind you I am the only one still studying as an Assistant. I just am unsure I can cope with this position if things like this are let to happen frequently. I am starting to doubt my abilities even though I love this job. I feel as though they should get someone qualified and experienced if the centre is going to be under so much stress that they can't provide with staffing issues. However last year was fantastic and I wish I could go back to my old room as the Assistant but I know it's not possible. So I am unsure of if I should complain/ask for a new position out of a room until I finish my studies/just wait until my group leader returns and wait it out hoping. I am really struggling to understand if this is normal?

Well it's good to know that it's not just me! I think being put into that situation you do start to feel sorry for yourself when it just keeps happening and have to think, is it really worth it?

It was such a big day and I knew it wasn't just me going through this, it was affecting everyone, especially the children. This week we have a full room of 16 (technically that is 4 over our 12) and my group leader isn't happy about that because our room, work and children are copping it. It just really goes against the Being, Belonging and Becoming that we are supposed to be adhering to when we can barely concentrate on getting to know the children which is quite sad. It's hard when you know money is what really matters and the centre doesn't want to admit it. Without enough occupancy we don't have our jobs, I get that, but expecting the outcomes of the new framework and not establishing the changes really is disheartening.

Unfortunately no, my director did not help, and I don't expect her to but I am being told that the director is supposed to be the one to be there if you are left alone. Learning this is good, and knowing other staff are there to support each other by communicating these things is also great.

I also thought that the new changes were coming in next year, bit down to hear it's not until 2016! So atleast I know what to expect with staffing issues until then hahaha.

Group leader is back, we only have 11 on Mondays and the child with no special needs so it was great to finally catch up on work and have that person to talk with. We got to actually spend time with the children, and I got so much cleaned and organised, it was a really good feeling. And study time! I have a feeling someone has been communicating to the director my breakdown in the room... However I know about the new children going up from the toddler room and 2 new children in the room which means the room numbers going up to 15 on 2 more days, 3 in total. If it gets to the point of last Friday I will bring it up with the Area Manager along with my group leader. And if staffing issues still gets out of control and my work and study fall, I think I will have to recommend I go to a different position.

Thanks for the help, really needed the support and give me some time to think about it for a bit longer.

Poor you.

Unfortunately yes staffing issues are a huge problem.

I have had my fair share of days where I want to scream and just walk out and not come back!!!

You should not be left alone in a room with 15 or 12 or however many children, if you are not the GL you should not be left in the room with any amount of children... you CANNOT be expected to manage/supervise an entire room of children esp toddlers!
thats just out of order and I would be having serious words with your DIrector...is she aware if you had a spot check or anyone come around and walk in classroom with no GL and just you with the children well the centre would be in big trouble? You are lucky the parent who walked in on the commotion did not complain about what she saw....no reflection on you, you did what you could.

At our workplace we have already adopted the new ratios so my toddler room is running at 1:6 at the moment except for days when I have a younger child in my room so it goes down to 1:5. I have never left my assistant in the room alone...ever...if I need the loo i have one attached to my room (the disabled) so I go there...and if I ever do have to quickly step out for something that she cannot do, I open the door to the babies room and let them know she is by herself and its usually when the children are all sleeping.
We now have more than enough staff and the change is huge... breaks are on time, we get programming every week, there is no reason for rooms to be understaffed.

Some places take things too lightly .... I think you need to seriously have a chat to your Director and be very serious in letting her know you are actually experiencing anxiety attacks because of certain issues you have faced/are facing. You need to just say (and be very straightforward) "what can you do to make things better for me?" unless you alert her to the fact you are NOT happy at all and contemplating chucking it all in she cannot help you.

If after talking to her she doesnt help/change things I would find another centre where you can get your study time and get a positive, happy, work experience.

Good luck hun....if you find the right centre and right GL etc childcare can be a very rewarding profession.
xxx

It's great to know the changes of the new ratios are working! It will make a huge difference on the children and really benefit everyone in general. Well here's to hoping other centres come along sooner rather than later. And I was *very* worried about the parent who walked in, I felt really helpless because I couldn't help him and was rather embarrassed. It was a dad, I did not know him very well as I have only seen the mum mostly so perhaps he was not aware of what it was supposed to be like. I know of other parents, mums, who have made comments about the staffing (never negative to us) and we aren't allowed to make any negative comments and just sort of head the direction in a positive way. But when it's consistent you do feel a bit silly doing that, making excuses for the staffing. You can tell they get as frustrated as we do.

Normally my group leader would not leave me alone with that many, now that she is back on holidays it's a whole different story. However we have decided to have a serious chat with the director about our room numbers. The pre-kindy room above us, which can handle 16 has only has full occupancy on one day. Other days they have 8 or 9... therefore we are proposing our older children who are more than ready (toilet trained, communicate, follow through, listening, etc.) over 2.6yrs should or could go up to relieve our numbers and increase theirs. It's kind of a win win. And the room next to us is happy to do so which is great!

I'm just concerned that if they don't change this that someone who is still studying their Certificate 3 is not qualified. I get A LOT of hands on experience working full time but I do not really understand the why and how of things. So I will look at an assessment finally and it will relate directly with something within the room or with the children. I don't believe it is hard to finish, but it would be nice to really put this into the job. And overall I do love my job, maybe another centre is would be better, but for now I know I've put a lot of work into the room and if the opportunity to place less stress on the room is adopted then that would be the better option. However if the centre feels that this isn't possible, someone who is not studying and possibly more experienced would be better suited.

Thanks for all the help and support, I don't plan on leaving this profession good and bad in every job, but this one is the most rewarding.

I hope changes work for you and your room gets less stressful.
Toddler Rooms in my opinion are the hardest of the rooms as there is so much happening in them.
I myself am a Toddler ROom GL and somedays I just want to hide under my desk lol
Hang in there

I have worked in the child care industry for the past 12 years and I have worked at some doggy centres. Reading what you have have posted leads me to believe that your director is not such a good director. If she wanted your room set up ready to go for the new year she should have given you time with the Assistant Director or herself to help. It sounds like she is also not running her ratios properly. When you are put in these types of situations it is very stressful and makes you reassess your career but trust me there are some really good centres out there that do go above and beyhond to look after staff. I am an Assistant Director and I can tell you that our company would not tollerate what you have been through. We have RDO's covered by the same consistent staff, we are at times over staffed never understaffed, given all resources needed to comply with EYLF etc. Please be patient and don't judge the industry on one bad experience. Maybe what you need to do i look around at other centres and find one that is more passionate about the staff and children, is better managed and a better fit for you. Good Luck.

fefe76 wrote:I hope changes work for you and your room gets less stressful.
Toddler Rooms in my opinion are the hardest of the rooms as there is so much happening in them.
I myself am a Toddler ROom GL and somedays I just want to hide under my desk lol
Hang in there

I'm also a Toddler Group Leader well at least I was up until this week. My director has just decided to drop my age group from 2-3 years to 18 months-30 months as we have a massive demand for our nursery rooms. I felt like I just got my room running how I like it and now it's being turned upside down with these new changes. Upside is though that I will have 3 staff in my room 1:4 wen I have under 2's in my room and 1:8 for the the remaining over 2's...Trust me - there are days where I just want to curl up on one of those blue beds and never wake up too!!!!!!!!!!!

Childcare is certainly rewarding but it is most certainly stressful too...we seriously need a pay rise. I am not in it for the money but it would be nice to get some more! and it would just show that what we do is just as important as school teachers (in my opinion its more but hey!)

hi there,
just like to add it doesn't matter how much money you give me it will never make up for the stress childrens services workers have to go through.
And we are not educators it says on my diploma that Im a childrens service worker and to me that means we nurture children and provide them the care their mums and dads would give them if they didn't have to go to work.
Education starts at Kinder thats why they are called Kindergarten teachers.
Im not saying infants to 6yrs dont learn, stop kidding yourselves we all learn every single day, and anyway do you really think that we got here today because of all that documentation and the EYLF.
When I was in childcare 21years ago there was a lot more time spent with the children, I cant remember children fighting or even crying when they got dropped off, we wern't under staffed and children stayed in their own rooms and wern't juggled around to suit staffing arrangements.
You want more money go and sit at a desk somewhere, how are parents supposed to make ends meet with childcare becoming so expensive.
Just remember why the children are there, so parents can go to work and make ends meet, I know heaps of parents who would love to stay at home and love and nurture their children but they cant, and it seems neither can chilcare staff because they are too busy shuffling children and meeting regulations and requirements by filling out paper work.

And we are not educators it says on my diploma that Im a childrens service worker and to me that means we nurture children and provide them the care their mums and dads would give them if they didn't have to go to work

If we are not educators then why do we learn so much about children's development and how to plan and program for them so that they grow learning the correct skill sets needed for their age group??

Education starts at Kinder thats why they are called Kindergarten teachers.

Totally disagree, education starts from Day 1 of a child's life. If you think that is the case well lets leave all the kids from birth to 5 and let them just do whatever and then send them to school and see what happens? By kindergarten age we have taught children to be able to sit, listen, obey instruction, know their colours, shapes and a multitude of other things....I'd love to hear Kindy teachers reactions if suddenly they have 22 children in a class who cannot do any of things I've mentioned.

When I was in childcare 21years ago there was a lot more time spent with the children, I cant remember children fighting or even crying when they got dropped off, we wern't under staffed and children stayed in their own rooms and wern't juggled around to suit staffing arrangements.

Well we do not make the rules, we do not like being understaffed or being juggled around, these are not decisions that staff in the classroom make, childcare centres are forced to do such things because of all the rules & regulations that have been put into place over the years. Things change, we have to deal with it and adhere to processes put in place by those higher up than us.

You want more money go and sit at a desk somewhere, how are parents supposed to make ends meet with childcare becoming so expensive

Im sure plenty of childcare workers are going to "sit at a desk somewhere" .... how are we supposed to make ends meet as well with crappy pay, not many benefits etc?? We are human too, we also have bills, mortgages, families.

Just remember why the children are there, so parents can go to work and make ends meet, I know heaps of parents who would love to stay at home and love and nurture their children but they cant

I know heaps of parents who do stay at home and still choose not to look after their children everyday... I also know heaps of parents who could easily not work and survive off one parents income but they choose to forsake looking after their kids for more and more money.

it seems neither can chilcare staff because they are too busy shuffling children and meeting regulations and requirements by filling out paper work.

Again we have to do what we have to do, we don't make these choices but regardless of the paperwork I know I (and I am sure plenty of others on here) do a damn good job of looking after those children in our care, if we didn't I can assure you parents would not be enrolling children. No parent would put their child in care everyday if they knew they were not being properly looked after regardless of their situation.

No money will make up for the stress yes you are right. That is not the point, the point of more money is that we have a lot of responsibility, we are moulding children in their most vulnerable years and we are shaping them for the people they will become, that is an important job and no less than what teachers do, so why are they paid more and given so many more benefits than we are?

Sorry but your whole post has just rubbed me the wrong way, and frankly if you do not think we are educators then I have nothing more to say...I just hope that you are doing a desk job somewhere.

Hi fefe,
Im sorry I have rubbed you up the wrong way but I would like to add a few points:
"Totally disagree, education starts from Day 1 of a child's life. If you think that is the case well lets leave all the kids from birth to 5 and let them just do whatever and then send them to school and see what happens?"
I totally disagree about the point of leaving the kids and lets see what happens, we would never do that because its called human instinct and we nurture and teach these children every second of every day an most of it is unintentional, I never said to leave the children and see what happens all I was saying is why do we have to be swamped with paperwork that seems to be neverending.
I totally agree we should all know about childrens development and what I learnt through my studies has been very valuable and I use these skills everyday even though Iam not in the industry.
Another point is:
"Well we do not make the rules, we do not like being understaffed or being juggled around, these are not decisions that staff in the classroom make, childcare centres are forced to do such things because of all the rules & regulations that have been put into place over the years. Things change, we have to deal with it and adhere to processes put in place by those higher up than us."
Yes someone sitting at a desk which is not what nurturing is about, Instead of asking for pay rises why dont you speak up about being understaffed and being juggled around, children are juggled around to and a lot, how do you think they feel?
Point 3:
I know heaps of parents who do stay at home and still choose not to look after their children everyday... I also know heaps of parents who could easily not work and survive off one parents income but they choose to forsake looking after their kids for more and more money.
I know heaps of thoes parents too and thats because things have changed, you can have a kid and guess what? someone else can look after it, I dont know why parents chose not to look after their own children.
And about the parents who work for more and more money I guess "Money is everything" poor people!
And seriousley you want more money, I was the only income earner in my family for the past few years and we managed to make ends meet, thats paying bills, child care expences and 2 children in private school, how much money do you want?
Sure we are moulding children for the future but we are not teaching children to be able to"sit, listen, obey instruction" and as far as knowing their "colours, shapes and a multitude of other things" do you really think children will not learn this if not in child care?
I dont want to upset anyone but I truly beleive the industry would be a better place if their wasn't so much constraint on so much documentation.
And Im not sitting at a desk somewhere I have found a job that requires hands on skill and only the required amount of paper work to keep a business running nothing over the top, and without giving too much away its not at a shop or a factory.
Once again I do appologise Im just crushed my pasion was not with paper work and really Im devestated Ive lost my career due to the overwhelming paperwork.

I wante more money I could easily earn it. I live in a mining community and could sooooo easily go get an admin job and earn $80K a year but I love what I do and will keep doing it even though the money is not wonderful and I will keep doing so.
I am doing my B.Ed and everyone says cool you can at least work in a school and get more holidays and more pay and I say nope I am happy in childcare, I am studying to better myself and my knowledge so I can pass that on to the children.
Unfortunately paperwork is a part of my job now and I have organised myself so well that it is not a burden to me as it probably is to others so I have no issue but yes it would be nice not to have to do SO much of it on a daily/weekly basis, however as I said I am organised and still manage to spend 99% of the day with the children actually doing things with them rather than at a computer.
I think its the responsibility of centres and those behind the scenes to give staff proper training and skills to help them cope with the paperwork that is now part & parcel of childcare. I doubt that the paperwork load will get any less so I guess that is what needs to be done.
I have just accepted that the paperwork is a part of the job and has to be done... it is not going to change and if anything I think there is just going to be more and more paperwork for us so we can either learn to cope or just give up .... personally I dont ever give up when the going gets tough and I adapt best I can...but each to their own.
I think its very personal and everyone has to just do what they need to do to survive. Parents and carers/teachers

Oh well I must have been crap at my job because all I seemed to do was paper work and i felt I was not fulling my duties caring for the children, thats why I left, I felt that due to the paper work I was neglecting my real responsibility the children. I was not staying in a position I could not fulfill, sorry Im not so organised.
And I was sick of taking my work home and neglecting my family.

I did not mean it in that way, please do not take it wrongly.
I have worked in some places where paperwork was not the be all and end all and other places that are very particular about paperwork so it could have been that factor, I do not know.
I also get 3 hours a week to do my portfolios learning stories etc and in a 3 hour block you can get heaps done.
At my last centre yes i did occasionally have to take work home but then I do not have children & my husband (then) was on a fly in fly out position so it wasnt a biggy .... yes if I now had to take paperwork home I would not be too thrilled even though I still have no kids but am studying and my time is my time I do not expect to have to do work at home.
The day I feel that red tape and other issues get in the way of me taking care of the kids yes I would leave too.
Anyway I suppose you are right in your way and me in mine, but like I said each situation is SO different. Where I work now is SOOOOO different to where I worked before I cannot even compare so maybe if in your situation I may have done the same, who knows, perhaps I have just been lucky enough to work in places where staff is not bogged down with paperwork

I too feel overwhelmed! I have just been appointed authorised supervisor in a new centre, we only have 12 children max (2 - 6 years) at the moment. Director is Diploma trained and loves to hang in her office. I have a lovely trainee working with me, she has been there 6 weeks and both her and the Director have been doing 7am - 6pm days. On my first full time day (yesterday) I was asked if it was ok if I would work a 7.ooam - 6.00pm day so the trainee could have a day off. Apparently she has 30 hours of overtime oweing. We get an RDO monthly and TIL is earnt from overtime. I had NO idea that I was buying into doing 11 hour shifts when I accepted this position. I am a single parent and my parents are already covering my backside on early morning and late afternoon shifts ... I do not want to do 11 hour shifts, with the idea being I am not paid for the extra hours but I get a day of in lieu! Id prefer to just work my hours and have the RDO once a month....... Im also setting up a new centre with new routines, I feel horribly lacking in experience, the kids have no routines, they can't even sit on the floor for group time let alone lie down for rest time! I have never been room leader before! Yep I want to jump in my car and go!!!

Copperclouds,
I was just reading through all the posts here and wondering how you are getting on now?

When you are teaching as someone has quoted "By kindergarten age we have taught children to be able to sit, listen, obey instruction, know their colours, shapes and a multitude of other things" Who or what are we teaching here our pets Id like to know any parent who wants their children to sit listen and obey and be trained like an animal, if a child is not ready for prep then maybe some other issues need addressing, why cant we put the money that is being spent on all this stuff back into children who need it I had a special needs child who received help at day care but when it came to perp someone up their decided he wasn't in a category for funding and he clearly needed it, such a shame to be so helpful in the younger years but not want to know about it when dealing with a different system.

When you are teaching as someone has quoted "By kindergarten age we have taught children to be able to sit, listen, obey instruction, know their colours, shapes and a multitude of other things" Who or what are we teaching here our pets Id like to know any parent who wants their children to sit listen and obey and be trained like an animal

That was me who said that and it is not "training" a child like an animal, it is giving them skills. I am not saying I say jump and they all jump in unison but children need to learn to listen to basic commands and follow them, like sitting down when they eat, lining up to go outside etc.

Most parents I know and have dealt with are grateful when they see their child listening and sitting down and being respectful and using manners.

We cannot just let children be and expect them to be ready for prep without any help, routines, intentional teaching.

Special needs is a totally separate issue.

I am not sure what exactly your point is justathought.... we do what we can do in a childcare setting, once the children go to school things are not in our hands.

I am sure schools have a lot of issues that need to be addressed but my concern is getting children to be the best they can and as ready for life and school as they can be.

You need to check this link out then to know what Im talking about what I have always said

It shows that among two and three-year-olds in childcare centres, no differences in behaviour or adjustment were apparent between the children who had started formal care as babies and those who had started later after having been at home with a parent or other carer.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/firstyea ... z230eIJ3ck

Stop thinking you are some god with education, go do your bachelor and teach at Kinder like the title
it holds Kindergarten TEACHER, Im sorry to tell you but your not creating Einstein just look after the babies and children like their supposed to be. Not every one goes to day care so stop thinking you are producing these marvelous products because you will never do it better than a childs own parent