What do parents look for in a childcare service? Is it a single person or team that will go the extra mile for families and children in their care? Is it their skills or special knowledge of children and their development? Or is there something about the service’s relationship building or interpersonal skills that set them apart from others?
These are the just some of the questions the judges for the 2007 Australian Family Fisher-Price Childcare Awards sought to answer as they deliberated over the 1,056 nominations received this year. The number of entries was up by more than 10% on last year, and this made the task of finding those special childcare workers and services that much harder. The calibre of entries was outstanding and the challenge was to decide just who of Australia’s child care workers had made the most significant contribution to children, their families and the community.
What do the awards represent?
Australian Family’s Managing Director Paul Clancy said, “The spirit of the awards is simple – they recognise the value and dedication of our national professional childcare workers. It takes a special kind of person to work with children, and parents who entrust these people with their children’s care realise just how valuable childcare workers are,” he said.
Paul believes these awards offer rare public recognition for the many childcare workers who support Australian parents and help them maintain strong family lives.
“They are an important way to raise the profile and acknowledge the valuable work these very special people do in our community,” he added.
What criteria do judges look for?
One of the judges, well known child psychologist Dr John Irvine said the qualities he will be looking for in the childcare worker or service is how much attention they give to the family as well as the child.
“Children are part of a bigger whole – the family unit – and it is our job to consider each child, not just as an individual, but in the context of that family. Whatever we can do to help make the unit feel stronger and better is going to work in everyone’s favour.”
With research on early brain development suggesting that at least 50 per cent of intelligence and personality traits are developed by the age of 4, Dr Irvine believes that developing the whole child including their happiness and spirituality is far more important than simply placing labels on children and encouraging parents to teach the child to ‘learn early’. The idea of the basic three R’s – respect, responsibility, and relationships is much more vital in giving children a launch in life.
Saluting past winners
At the official launch of the Fisher-Price Child Care Awards in December 2007 the dedication and determination displayed by past winners was clear.
Winner of the 2006 Childcare Director of the Year Award Tali Kimelman said that being a director of Gilly’s Early Learning Centre, which provides for over 110 children aged from 12 months – to 3 and a half years old, has enabled her to send the message of the vital impact that the early childhood industry has on the lives of so many families, and children.
In addition she expressed concern that the early childhood profession lacks recognition; there is high demand on workers, and funding is sadly deficient. “Society needs to realise that giving our children the best possible start in life is money well invested, much more so than other financial investments,” she said.
For 2006 Childcare Worker of the Year, Carmel Merrey, accepting children into Family Day Care who may not have otherwise been able to access childcare, was the distinguishing quality that demonstrated her ability to go that extra mile.
Carmel believes that the windows of opportunity for infant learning and development are brief fall within those first few years. As a childcare worker she feels it is her responsibility to work with parents to achieve the best quality care that their children can access.
“The children we care for today are the adults of the future. They may well be fine tuning their decision making, interpersonal and negotiating skills in the sandpit of their childcare environment to help them with their future directions,” she said.
Nominations received this year
Partnered by Childcare Associations Australia and Family Day Care Australia, childcare workers were nominated in three categories – Childcare Worker of the Year, Children’s Service Director, and/or Co-ordinator of the Year, and for the first time, the Children’s Service of the Year Award.
The high standard of applications meant the judges faced a difficult decision in choosing just one winner in each of the three categories. The overwhelming response was not only in number of entries and the calibre of each, but also in the geographic spread. This year the Awards have attracted applications from large urban areas and also from regional and remote areas of Australia, including outback NSW, Kangaroo Island, Kalgoorlie, and the Northern Territory.
The judges looked for the extra mile – where childcare workers and services not only provided excellent care and education, but also connected with their communities. Examples included setting up sign language programs, working with autistic and hearing impaired children, and providing emergency care for families in crisis; these were the elements that exceeded the expectations of judges.
The Australian Family Fisher-Price Child Care Awards are the only awards that extend across all childcare sectors including long day care, family day care schemes, occasional care, crèches, kindergartens, and preschools.
The winners were announced on 8 May in an awards ceremony held at the lavish Langham Hotel in Melbourne.
Winners’ names are posted on www.childcareawards.com.au
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