The best way to prevent child harm and abuse in early childhood education and care services is to ensure that every person has been properly vetted before they start working in a service. Careful reference checks with previous employers, vetting of qualifications and making sure Working with Children Checks are valid will minimise the risk of unsafe and unsuitable people working in early childhood services.
Child Safe Standard 6 requires approved providers to ensure that people working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.
All early childhood services in Victoria are required to follow best practice recruitment and induction processes so new staff, casuals, labour-hire, volunteers and students are suitable to work with children, and are supported to embed a child-safe culture and practices. The safety, rights, and best interests of children must be the paramount consideration in all recruitment decisions.
Approved providers and service leaders should also ensure staff involved in recruitment have the skills, knowledge, and capability to undertake child-safe recruitment and understand their safeguarding responsibilities and obligations.
Child safety must be considered at each stage of the recruitment process, including:
- recruitment planning, developing position descriptions and advertising
- panel arrangements, assessment of applications and interviews
- pre-employment screening, work history and reference checks, including prohibition and National Early Childhood Worker Register checks
- ensuring a valid Working with Children Check
- induction, training and probation
- ongoing supervision and support, including performance management.
Recruitment practices should also clearly demonstrate the service’s commitment to child safety to applicants, families and the broader community and contribute to a visible child-safe culture.
VECRA expects services to develop and maintain robust child-safe recruitment and induction records, including evidence of how new staff, casuals, labour-hire personnel, volunteers and students are supported to understand the service’s recruitment processes, code of conduct, child safety responsibilities and role expectations.
As well as the National Register, VECRA will be focusing on making sure employers meet this requirement. As part of our monitoring, compliance and assessment and rating visits, we will be assessing how services are reflecting and strengthening best practice recruitment and induction.
There will be further resources and guidance provided in the coming months to support providers in understanding best practice recruitment and induction.
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