Chapter 5
The Supply and Training of Staff
Child care staff
5.1
When the Child Care Centres Ordinance was first enacted the minimum educational qualification for a child care worker was completion of Form II in a secondary school together with a specified period of relevant training. This level has now been raised to Form III, but in order to minimize staffing difficulties, a new class of "trainee child care worker" has been introduced to allow untrained staff to work in child care centres whilst they are under- going training. All staff 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 no centre may employ more than one-third untrained staff at any one time in order to ensure that adequate care is provided for the children. The legislative requirements in respect of staff qualifications are summarised at Appendix 5A.
5.2
The Child Care Centres Ordinance and its subsidiary Regulations require each centre to have a supervisor who is legally responsible for the management of the centre. This requirement was primarily intended for centres providing full-day care. However, it is now proposed that small centres operating on a half-day basis which do not require more than two workers should not be required to appoint a supervisor. The responsibilities of the supervisor would, in these circumstances, be discharged by the operator of the centre.
5.3
The total number of trained staff as at 1 September 1979 was 1,104 against a current requirement of 1,647. The statutory staff/children ratio is 1:14 for day centres and has recently been amended for staff workers in residential centres to 1:8 for day staff and 1:12 for night staff.
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5.4
Based on the planned provision for child care centres and on the statutory staffing ratio, the requirement for trained child care staff is given in the table below:
Year
Planned provision No. of trained child care
staff required
of places
1981-82
19,100
1,500
1982-83
25,400
1,970
1983-84
31,700
2,440
1984-85
38,100
2,910
1985-86
43,000
3,280
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