Staff Turnover And Why It Matters At A Childcare Centre

If you have heard that the rules around mobile phones and electronic devices in early childhood settings have changed, you are right. If your child attends a childcare centre in NSW, these changes are already in effect.

Here is a plain-English breakdown of what changed, why it happened, and what it means for your family.

Why Did the Laws Change?

The changes were introduced as a child safety measure. In 2025, Australia’s Education Ministers agreed to amend the Education and Care Services National Law to address concerns about the potential for personal devices to be used to capture, store, or transmit images of children in care without authorisation.

The intent is straightforward: children in early learning settings deserve an environment where their privacy and safety are actively protected.

What Changed Nationally

From 27 February 2026, amendments to the national Education and Care Services National Law took effect across Australia. Under these changes, educators and staff who work directly with children are restricted from using personal electronic devices in care settings.

Before this, from 1 September 2025, all early childhood education and care services nationwide were required to have written policies in place addressing the use of digital devices.

What Changed in NSW

NSW moved ahead of the national timeline. The Education and Care Services (Supply, Authorisation and Use of Devices) Order 2025 took effect on 6 November 2025, applying across NSW’s 6,000 or more early learning services, including long day care centres, preschools, and family day care.

Under this order, educators and staff must use service-issued or service-authorised devices rather than their own personal devices when working directly with children.

What Counts as a Personal Device?

The definition is broad. A personal device is any device owned by an individual (not the approved provider) that is capable of capturing, storing, or transmitting an image. This includes:

Mobile phones
Smartwatches
Cameras and tablets
iPads and laptops
Hard drives, USB drives, and memory cards
Wearables such as camera glasses

Who Does the Ban Apply To?

The restrictions apply to anyone working directly with children at a service, including permanent and casual educators, students on placement, volunteers, contractors, and allied health professionals delivering programs on-site.

Parents, carers, and other visitors are not covered by the ban. In NSW, parents and carers remain free to use their personal devices during drop-off, pick-up, centre visits, and events involving their own children. There are also authorised exceptions for essential purposes, including emergencies and health or disability support needs.

What About Screen Time for Children?

These new laws specifically address staff device use, not children’s screen time. Screen time limits for young children are not mandated within childcare regulation at a national level.

The relevant guidance comes from the federal Department of Health and Aged Care’s 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, which recommend no screen time for children under 2 years, and no more than 1 hour per day for children aged 2 to 5 years. These are health guidelines, not regulatory requirements.

What This Means for Your Family

If your child attends a childcare centre in NSW, their service is already required to operate under these rules. Any educator or staff member working directly with your child should not be using a personal device to take photos or videos. Only service-authorised devices should be used for that purpose.

If you have questions about how your centre handles digital devices or image capture, you are well within your rights to ask. Most services will have a written policy in place that covers exactly this.

At Clovel, the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care is at the heart of everything we do. If you would like to know more about how we support your child across our centres, we would love to have that conversation with you.

One of the many parental responsibilities include finding the perfect childcare for your little one(s). There are many factors to consider when surveying different centers, and the decision you make will determine the impact education and care will have on your child. A good childcare centre is crucial for your tiny tot as these professionals will be looking after them at a very impressionable age.

You want the best for your child. And because he will be surrounded by teachers who will be care for him during this time, these are the questions you need to ask:

• What will their learning be like?
• Will there be sufficient holistic growth for your child at this juncture?
• Are they happily learning with others, similar to their age?

One of the most important reasons why you enrol your child in a childcare facility is to provide a safe and secure environment for them outside their home. Young children learn vital skills from a young age.

Finding a childcare center that encourages problem solving and sharing, teaches them responsibility and provides a safe and fun environment is important. And one critical factor to this outcome is staff. The teachers and support staff at these facilities play a central role in the overall development of your child.

Why You Should Evaluate the Staff While Evaluating the Centre

Always take a tour of the place before enrolling your child in any facility. Keep your eyes open for subtle cues to understand the general environment of that facility. An excellent learning space would have a learning and educational vibe as well as prove to be a fun and safe environment for the children.

Check whether it is well maintained. Does it look like a conducive place for education? While you are there, speak to staff and gage their reactions and responses to your questions. Look for the following things:

• Do they look happy?
• Do they look engaged themselves?
• What is the level of interaction with the children they are caring for?
• Are they committed?
• Are they keeping the children engaged in meaningful activities?

These adults are essential for the holistic development of your child. Besides their home and parents, these are the people they will look up to as mentors and role models. You don’t want your child in the hands of someone unsure about their career and have no known career goals. Ask about the qualifications of the educators.

Seek out their potential for professional development in this field. Think twice about enrolling your child in facilities which are unable to give you satisfactory answers. Go with your gut instincts.

What to Look For In Children?

The skills and quality of the educators at the facility matter a great deal. A motivated individual will keep the children engaged and happy. You should also try and determine how children react to teachers and whether they are happy. An environment of continuity, safety and trust built into the working of the childcare facility can create a natural sense of wellbeing in the children. You will be able to identify this in their behaviour by determining:

• Whether they are respectful towards each other
• How they are addressing their friends and teachers
• How careful these children are while handling resources?

It’s difficult for the facilities to provide a challenging environment focused on equal parts learning and development while not taking away the fun part. This is even more apparent when staff turnover is high. Research shows that this is one field which has a high employee turnover rate. Facilities that have a massive churn with its educators are known to have detrimental effects on children.

Reasons Why Childcare Professionals Leave

There are many reasons why childcare staff members quit and move on from one job to another. Some of the most basic reasons for this are inadequate payment, questionable working conditions and paperwork.

Why It Matters

• It’s unfortunate that highly dedicated, highly qualified staff leave their jobs.
• They have built up a level of ease with your child in day to day interactions.
• A sense of predictability is developed in your child’s life, and a Childcare staff has an important role to play in this.
• Your child is bound to develop a deep attachment with the educator as is often the case with anyone who cares for them over some time.
• Your child begins to trust and develops a deep and caring rapport with educators because they grow used to having facility staff members treating them with due consideration and respect
• Your child develops a bond with an educator, and it might upset them to suddenly find a new face waiting for them at the Centre.

If a child has sufficient support from parents and carers at home, transitional staff can be managed. But children are unpredictable. And with fast paced lives, sometimes it becomes difficult to understand what’s going on in your child’s mind. This is why we need to understand how important it is to have devoted and caring teachers at your child’s care centre.

We recommend having a heart to heart with your children as often as possible to understand them. We at Clovel Childcare and Early Learning Centre, provide a very nurturing environment for children to learn and grow. For any information about our Educational Programs, give us a call at 02 9199 0294 or fill in this contact us form

Thanks for watching,
Clovel Childcare
1300 863 986

Lyn Connolly

Founder and Company Director

Lyn Connolly is the Founder and Company Director of Clovel Childcare & Early Learning Centres, a family‑owned group of eight centres across Western Sydney established from her first service at Merrylands. Active in early childhood education since 1977, she also serves as President of the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW, representing providers in state and federal consultations, media, and public hearings.

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