GUNFIDENTIAL
Chapter 3
Standards in Pre-primary Care and Education
CHILD CARE CENTRES
3.1
The Government intends that child care centres shall offer services for
children below kindergarten age but usually over the age of two. Children of the
2- and 3-year-old age group will be socialising and enjoying the beginnings of
educational experiences in these centres, but one of the principal roles of a
child care centre is the provision of services which often cannot be provided
at home. The Social Welfare Department will continue to encourage child care
centres to provide well designed programmes of informal activities to occupy
the children who attend them.
3.2
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The Government is generally satisfied that the statutory requirements
governing the operation of child care centres, which include staff qualifications,
the staff to children ratio and minimum space standards, provide an effective
means of ensuring that the quality of care provided is of an acceptable level.
It will, however, be necessary to make minor amendments to the Child Care Centres
Ordinance, following the publication of this White Paper.
3.3
Under the Child Care Centres Ordinance and its subsidiary
legislation, the minimum educational qualification for a child care worker is
completion of Form III whilst that for supervisors is the Hong Kong Certificate
of Education with two subjects at Grade E or above. These arrangements appear to
be working well and no change is proposed. By law, all child care centre staff
must have completed a child care training course recognised by the Director of
Social welfare. However, the present number of trained staff is limited and in
order to ease staffing difficulties for operators, there is provision for
untrained staff to be engaged for a limited period whilst they undergo in-service
training. These "trainee child care workers" must be trained within one year of
being appointed or within such further period as may be determined by the Director
of Social Welfare and, to ensure that the children receive adequate care, no
centre may employ more than one-third untrained staff at any one time.
CONFIDENTIAL