Survey: Working Parents Want Round-the-Clock Childcare Centres

A new survey has found that working parents want 24/7 childcare centres, selling food and coffee for when they pick up and drop off their kids.

The Australian Institute of Family Studies, a government research body, has conducted a survey on over 400 parents working nonstandard hours, and discovered that most parents are calling for flexible childcare that is still not available.

This comes despite the former Gillard government spending $5.5 million on a Childcare Flexibility Trial, which had aimed to model nonstandard hours in childcare centres and family day care.

However, centres which are considered ‘flexible’ are only open between 6.30am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday, which means shift workers would still find it difficult to look for childcare to accommodate their needs.

AIFS director Anne Hollonds said the survey shows that childcare has not evolved to fit the needs of the modern worker, and added that some parents are forced to change their work schedule to match the care their family needs.

“This included changing their work hours to part-time, moving jobs to one that does not involve variable shifts or even taking time out of paid employment.

“Many parents also opt to meet their care needs informally, either by arranging their work schedules to cover care needs themselves or by calling on the help of extended family such as grandparents,” she said.

AIFS senior researcher Dr Jennifer Baxter also agreed considering the stress that single parent families, families with special needs children and those living in regional areas face. She said that she hoped that more flexible childcare would result to “greater engagement in paid work by parents”.

As part of the study, some centres also trialled coffee carts and a pizza van which instantly became a hit with the parents.

Source: Tenplay.com.au