Working unsupervised??

[Kate1999]

So ive recently started a traineeship in childcare (studying to get my cert 3, and have only been there for 2 week). Just wondering if there are any laws/rules about being left alone to supervise the kids?? I work out of a primary school so when my supervisor goes on break i am left completely by myself to look after the kids. There can be anywhere up to about 25 kids, ranging from kindy to year 6.

[Lorina]

Since you are actively working towards your cert 3, you are considered as a cert 3 qualified educator for supervision requirements. However as per the regulations and law, for school-aged children, the ratio is 1:15. Which means you can only look after 15 children per 1 educator.

The service is failing to meet ratio requirements if your supervisors break is more than 10 minutes.

Hope this helps!

,
Lorina

[Iris2]

As I work in OSHC, first of all, you could technically be left alone with up to 15 children. Anymore than that is not legal. Also, it depends on your company but leaving a new, unexperienced worker by themselves, in an area with a lot of children, or children who may 'test the boundaries' is not allowed by many companies and is considered unethical, because this increases the risk of incidents and is an unfair stress on a new worker. Check your companies policies, especially supervision and child safety policies.