Investigation Into The Misuse Of Under The Roof Ratios In Early Childhood Services

According to respondents to a 7.30 inquiry, a technique at early childhood services known as "under the roof"—which determines the ratio of Educators to children—is being misused.

When educators complained to investigations conducted by 7.30 about issues in the industry, the most prevalent complaint they made was the misuse of "under the roof" ratios. Educators shared the following concerns:

• Every day, we operate in violation of the law. We are out of ratio every single day.
• At one point, the chef was part of our personnel ratios.
• Since the "under roof" ratio is being maintained, I have been required to care for five newborns by myself.
• While working with children, staff members are also expected to do paperwork and maintain the facility, which simply makes it impossible to provide proper supervision or even meet the minimal staffing needs.
• When I left the company, I protested that I wasn't meeting the ratios, but they said it was okay because they were using a "under roof" ratio (which shouldn't have been counted because the other employees were on lunch break).
• Ratios must be addressed, and the application of the so-called "under the roof" regulation must be strictly enforced.
• Companies are reducing employee counts in the name of increasing profits (the "roof line ratio"). As a result, there may occasionally be 16 children for every staff member. Is that even remotely fair?
• I frequently hear statements like "we are only one child over ratio" or "it's only for a short time" when I voice concerns to the staff about them working over child-to-staff ratios. One private center's "under roof ratio"—which allows one room to function with more staff than necessary while another may do so with fewer—is the one that worries me.
• Every day, we operate in violation of the law. We are out of ratio every single day.
• At one point, the chef was part of our ratios.
• Since the "under roof" ratio is being maintained, I have been required to care for five newborns by myself.

Anne Aly, the Minister of Early Childhood Education, described the use of "under the roof" ratios as "a matter of concern".

"If centres are, as you say, abusing the 'under the roof' ratios, this is a matter for us to ensure that they don't abuse that through the Quality Framework because ... [it] makes it very clear about what the ratios are and that there needs to be a certain number of educators and a teacher under that ratio rule," said Ms Aly.

"And if services are abusing that, then this is a matter for ACECQA (Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority) when they undertake their assessments of those services to ensure that they are complying with the quality framework."

In accordance with regulation 121, the minimum number of educators and their qualification requirements are calculated across the service, regardless of the individual room configuration. This means that ratios are not calculated on the number of children and educators present in a ‘room’ or ‘group’.

The ratio required is always calculated according to the youngest age of the child allocated to an educator for the purposes of calculating ratios.

Under regulation 122 the educator must be ‘working directly with children’ at the service. Regulation 13 of the National Regulations defines ‘working directly with children’ as being both physically present with the children and being directly engaged in providing education and care to the children.

Implementing Under The Roof Ratios

When implementing Under The Roof to calculate ratios, services need to understand:

• The number of educators required is calculated based on all children in attendance at the service regardless of grouping or room configuration.
• In a mixed age group of children, an educator who is caring for one age range of children can also be counted against another age range of children, as long as the ratio for each age range is maintained and adequate supervision is maintained at all times.
• The first step is to determine the number of educators needed for the youngest age range of children in the group. Once that ratio is met, an educator can also supervise children in another age range, provided the youngest age range is still maintained.
• Maintaining the ratio for each age range of children in the mixed age group does not mean the educator to child ratio for the youngest age range must be applied to all children in an older age range.

In response to an ACECQA report on safety in early childhood education and care settings, the government has received recommendations and will be creating an action plan.

References:
Use of 'under the roof' ratio loophole in childcare centres called out by industry insiders, minister labels practice 'a concern', ABC NEWS
Under the Roof Ratios, Aussie Childcare Network