Regional Early Childhood Education and Care report

The WA State Training Board’s Regional Early Childhood Education and Care report was prepared in collaboration with the Community Skills WA industry training council, and released in 2023. 

This report will inform regional training priorities and workforce development opportunities for this critical sector, which supports children’s development — as well as parents and carers across all industries — to participate in the workforce throughout regional WA. 

The report:

• highlights continued challenges facing the sector;
• provides an overview of existing initiatives and programs identified through stakeholder consultations; 
• explores issues affecting the sector in regional WA, and how the training sector may assist to address these; and
• identifies strategies to address training challenges.

The identified strategies acknowledge the workforce challenges facing regional childcare providers, and highlight the importance of access to quality local training and employment pathways in the regions.

State Government response

The State Government recognises the importance of the early childhood education and care sector and the fundamental role that it plays in supporting workforce participation, particularly for women, and will continue to focus its efforts on initiatives and programs to further support the sector and increase the pipeline of skilled workers to meet industry’s needs. 

Their response to the report provides nine recommended strategies, under the following seven key themes.

• Key theme 1: Tightening regional labour markets
• Key theme 2: Importance of local workforce initiatives and Aboriginal workforce development needs
• Key theme 3: Targeted promotion of early childhood education career pathways
• Key theme 4: Untapped labour markets
• Key theme 5: Barriers of the training and regulatory environment
• Key theme 6: Housing affordability
• Key theme 7: Overseas workforce

Full details of the State Government's response, and strategies, are provided in the Workforce action plan: Regional Early Childhood Education and Care published in May 2023.