Early Childhood Education and Care 2020: Understanding ECEC Service Occupancy Drivers
The Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector is performing well nationwide. The growth in the ECEC sector has been driven by an increasing number of services and more flexible options for families. The proportion and number of children attending ECEC services has also increased. Successful growth is often dependent on several ECEC service occupancy drivers.
Changes to government policy have also fuelled growth in the ECEC services sector. This includes the Child Care Subsidy introduced in mid-2018. Another example is how a rise in female superannuation contributions has impacted growth in the sector.
What is driving the occupancy rates in the ECEC sector?
The ECEC service occupancy drivers are diverse. They indicate a range of factors at play, including value-added services, intimate care, better nutrition, longer hours, mixing ages and greater flexibility.
Let’s take a look at them in detail.
Value-added offerings—the greatest ECEC service occupancy driver
Sports, art, music and recreational activities play an essential role in a child’s development. ECEC services that provide these high-value offerings ensure children have fun while learning valuable skills. About 56% of respondents thought value-added services led to higher occupancy rates.
Intimate care
ECEC services have to meet the personal care needs of every child. To ensure that children feel safe, they need to be cuddled and offered physical reassurance. 41% of respondents felt that providing more intimate care arrangements for children led to better occupancy rates.
Better nutrition
ECEC services are responsible for providing nutritious food to the children in their care. About 38% of responders agreed that an ECEC service that provided healthier options and more variety of food had better occupancy rates. Children spend a lot of time, especially in long day care services. Menus should aim to meet a significant amount of a child’s daily nutrition requirements. They should include various foods appropriate to the developmental stages of different age groups.
Longer hours
With the number of people working non-standard hours rising, longer day care hours are great news for working families. The responders agreed as well—around 30% said that providing extended hours of care was a significant occupancy driver when choosing an ECEC service.
Mixing ages
Mixed-age grouping gives children opportunities to be part of a diverse group. 26% of responders thought that broadening the age group was effective and had great potential to support children’s social and emotional learning.
Greater flexibility
Flexible ECEC services, which provide high-quality child care on an occasional or ad hoc basis from as little as one hour to a full day, are necessary for working families. Around 25% of responders felt that having varying session time lengths helped them choose an ECEC service.
Leverage these ECEC service occupancy drivers for success
With a record number of ECEC service openings around Australia, providers face incredible competition. With people having more options than ever, ECEC services should emphasise standing out, whether via their facilities, staff or service.
To learn more about implementing best practices as well as automating the recording of data needed to give you the best chance of Exceeding the NQS, get in touch today.
