Swan Hill Rural City Council is joining local early childhood education and care providers in calling for urgent action to address the growing shortage of early childhood educators across the region.
Council’s Mayor, Cr Stuart King said Swan Hill Early Years Services (SHEYS) research clearly confirms that the region is facing a severe childcare shortage and this is having a profound impact on families and local business.
“Currently research is telling us there is only one childcare place available for every three children under the age of five. Demand significantly outstrips supply, with local families crying out for more accessible, high-quality early years services.
“Crucially, this shortage is not only about buildings or funding—it's about people.
“The biggest barrier to expanding childcare in our area is a lack of qualified educators. We simply don’t have enough local training providers and teachers, and this is creating a major bottleneck, Cr King said.
Cr King said the need for suitably qualified early years professionals was further heightened by the Victorian Government’s Best Start, Best Life reforms, which will see a staged increase in funded preschool hours for four-year-old children from 2027 across our municipality.
“This means there will be even more demand for trained early years educators and teachers in coming years,” he said.
SuniTAFE, Senior Manager, Terry Jenning said the TAFE were actively trying to recruit a suitably qualified early years teacher at the Swan Hill campus and has a range of incentives including financial incentives to offer and support candidates willing to undertake Certificate 4 TAE.
“SuniTAFE is actively recruiting for a qualified Early Years teacher to deliver Early Childhood Education and Care programs at the Swan Hill campus.
“Industry-experienced Early Years educators who are willing to undertake Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAE40122) are also encouraged to apply. SuniTAFE can support an applicant to get started as a TAFE teacher while they complete the Certificate IV which is delivered online to allow for learner flexibility and can be covered by the FREE TAFE program free of charge to the participant,” Mr Jennings said.
Mr Jennings encouraged anyone interested in becoming an Early Years teacher at SuniTAFE to reach out to SuniTAFE Early Years team via kwatt@sunitafe.edu.au
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