Being Left Alone As A Trainee

[caito]

Hi, I have a little over a month left of my traineeship.
I have no idea the regulations when it comes to trainees but am aware that most centres have a ratio of about 60% trained 40% untrained. In my small one room centre we are that ratio staff wise but only have 5 staff members, which only 4 of which work in a day. The other trainee I work with is 6 months behind me.

Every since I have started my traineeship I have been left alone on the floor with the other trainee. This has been a constant thing. I am friends with one of the previous years trainee's who said it was much the same when she was there. About 4 months into my traineeship the trainee that i had started with got let go due to bad practice and the search began for a new trainee. When they found one it was late June. Ever since this trainee has started nothing has changed. I have a friend who is an ECT at another centre in the area who has told me that it is actually illegal to leave two untrained people on the floor for long amounts of time. I have spoken to the qualified staff at my centre who have said that this is not and have got quite mad about it when I have asked.

In September the centre received bad news, the tenants they rent there building from where kicking them out at the end of the year. So because of this the centre has relocated but there was a month of uncertainty. This has put extreme stress on the staff of the centre and have caused them to up there office duties.

Ever since this has happened me and the other trainee are being left outside or running the room for sometimes periods longer than 45 minutes at a time. i do not feel that this is acceptable and have spoken to my supervisor about it and nothing has changed.

I have tried to find the regulations online and even spoke to my trainer who agreed with me on the issue and said that area of the regulations is a bit of a grey area. If any one could help me find where I can find these regs, or even what the regs are it would be greatly appreciated so that this does not happen to future trainees.

Thank you

[Lorina]

You're right, as a trainee you should not be left alone supervising the children. You are basically still considered an "unqualified" educator until you receive your qualification and you should be supervised at all times. This is because if an incident does occur, you may not be qualified to handle it and it's really out of your responsibilities. I think it's completely unfair that you have been made to do duties and tasks beyond your qualification and it's unethical to leave you to be responsible of the children by yourself without a qualified supervisor present.

I have found the following information from vocational training:

Enhancements have been made to the supervision and on-the-job training requirements for Early Childhood Education and Care traineeships under Commissioners Information Bulletin 599 – Community Services. In particular, under the section ‘Early Childhood Education and Care – Supervision and on-the-job training for all ECEC trainees’.

- it is explicit that a full time qualified supervisor is to be present AT ALL TIMES whilst a trainee is in the workplace and when there are children present; and
- environments where the trainee is practising as a sole operator, which includes family day care, are NOT suitable work situations for traineeships in this vocation.

These requirements have been endorsed by the Community Services & Health ITAB and have received unanimous support from the sector.

Ref: Australian Apprenticeships - Early Childhood

Hope this helps,

,
Lorina

[Lorina]

If this continues the only suggestion is to contact your training institute and let them know what's happening within your centre. It seems like your centre employs alot of trainees and once you move on, it's just going to continue with the others. So, it really needs to be sorted.

You dont want to be responsible for an incident that may be beyond your control....

,
Lorina

[caito]

thankyou this does help