Government still to set minimum qualifications for child carers

Despite the growing demand for child-care facilities and an increase in fiscal incentives to parents sending children to these facilities, Malta still lacks a set of minimum requirements for employment in this sector.

In order to seek employment, child carers have to be in possession of a certificate recognised by the Malta Qualifications Centre, but unlike secondary and primary school teachers and language school teachers, they are not asked to fulfil a minimum level of requirements or grade before being granted a warrant.

An Education Ministry spokesperson confirmed that the Department for Social Welfare Standards is working together with the Malta Qualifications Council to establish minimum level requirements for both carers and managers within childcare centres, according to the Malta Qualifications Framework.

Qualifications in childcare

The National Standards for Child Day Care Facilities already establish that child care workers working within child care centres including home-based centres must be in possession of a qualification in Childcare which is accredited from the Malta Qualifications Council.

These standards also state that a manager within a child care centre must be in possession of a qualification in childcare accredited from the Malta Qualifications Council and training in Management or Administration.

The workers' qualifications are vetted by the Department for Social Welfare Standards' Welfare Services Assessment unit as part of the inspection process.

The authorities are also working to establish occupational standards for each of these roles.

"These will guide people wishing to work in the field, employers and training establishments."

The Department also visits these centres on a regular basis to give support and advice on how the standards could be kept and improved.

At present, courses for child carers are conducted by Employment Training Centre and MCAST as well as private companies like Future Focus. One problem faced by child care centres is that some present certificates issued abroad. But these qualifications still have to be approved by the Malta Qualifications Centre.

Child carers also have to be in possession of a first aid certificate and a police conduct certificate.

As things stand, employers cannot refuse anyone on the basis of his or her qualifications as long as they can provide a letter showing approval from the qualifications council.

Need of a law to regulate sector

Moreover, the sector is still not regulated by a comprehensive law enforcing standards even if a set of standards issued in 2006 are enforced in registered child care centres. 

Only parents sending children to registered child care centres are entitled to fiscal incentives which have been increased in last Monday's budget.

In fact, all registered child centres were audited by the authorities and conform to health and safety standards.

But in the absence of a law, it is still possible for parents to send their children to unregistered child care centres which do not conform to these standards. 

For example, although these standards stipulate that child care centres have to be located at ground floor level, no law precludes someone from keeping kids in a basement.

At present, MEPA offers the only safeguard against the opening of schools that do not fulfil the standards enacted in 2006. 

Contacted by MaltaToday, Rosette Thake, owner of Kidstart - one of the leading private child care providers in the island - called on government to treat the matter with urgency.

"We urgently need a law to regulate this sector to ensure a level playing field between operators and that the quality of care offered to children conforms to standards."

Thake also supports the introduction of a minimum level of qualification requirements as this would facilitate the employment of qualified staff.

She pointed out that as long as a qualification is approved by the Qualification council, employers cannot be expected to go in to the details of each certificate produced by a prospective child carer especially if this is issued by a foreign entity.