Australia’s 3,000 independent early learning centres are being spotlighted in a new campaign, according to Australian Childcare Alliance president Paul Mondo. The campaign, Proudly Independent, Proudly Local, aims to highlight the role these family-owned, community-focused small businesses play in supporting children, families, and local communities.
The Australian Childcare Alliance, the national peak body representing independent providers, developed the campaign to promote the importance of independent early learning centres. Paul Mondo said locally owned, independent centres play a vital role in the sector, supporting children and families, employing local educators, and contributing to the social and economic fabric of the communities they operate in.
Every school day in Australia, 1.3 million children attend a childcare centre, supporting more than 950,000 families. On average, a child spends around three days a week in early learning. Paul Mondo argued that early learning policy should recognize the unique complexities of different operating models, particularly for independently run centres.
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The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia has consistently called on governments to properly assess how new policies, regulations, and funding arrangements will affect small businesses before they’re introduced. Paul Mondo said early learning policy should face the same test, recognizing that an independently operated local centre doesn’t have the same scale, resources, or capacity to absorb change as larger operators.
Paul Mondo said many independent centres have spent years, and in some cases generations, building trusted relationships with families, educators, and local communities, and are deeply embedded in their neighbourhoods, connected with local schools and businesses, and attuned to the people around them. He added that policy and funding frameworks too often treat the sector as one homogenous group, without recognizing the unique complexities of different operating models.
Failing to differentiate between local independent providers and the rest of the sector risks tipping the scales against them, Paul Mondo said. Losing independent early learning providers would mean losing choice and diversity in the sector, and that all parts of the sector should be valued and understood, because that diversity is what gives parents real choice.
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Skye Cappuccio, CEO of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, said independent early learning providers are small businesses in every sense of the word. They employ local people, invest in their communities, and help families thrive, but their role as small businesses isn’t always recognized. Skye Cappuccio said that, like every Australian small business, they deserve a fair go and the chance to keep growing, employing local people, and supporting the communities that rely on them.
The Australian Childcare Alliance campaign aims to raise awareness about the importance of independent early learning centres and the role they play in supporting children, families, and local communities.
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