It can be lonely at the top. Directors of child care centres have a lot to deal with every single day. Not only their staff, but also the children’s parents look to them for guidance. They are expected to know how to run their organisation efficiently so that each kid gets the best experience possible. But, who is it that directors turn to for guidance and business advice? Which industry bodies do they follow to keep on top of the ever-changing compliance regulations and reporting requirements? How do they stay abreast of the latest news and trends in the child care industry? Our latest survey reveals the answers to these questions and much more.
What industry bodies do directors rely on to keep up-to-date with what’s happening in the child care sector?
Six peak bodies made up a total of 75% of all respondents’ preferences. The top industry bodies (listed in order) are:
- Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority www.acecqa.gov.au
- Community Child Care Co-operative www.ccccnsw.org.au
- Early Childhood Australia www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au
- Australian Childcare Alliance www.australianchildcarealliance.org.au and its state representatives
- Australian Childcare Alliance Victoria www.vic.childcarealliance.org.au
- Australian Childcare Alliance New South Wales www.childcarensw.com.au
- Australian Childcare Alliance Western Australia www.childcarewa.com
- Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland www.qld.childcarealliance.org.au
- Australian Childcare Alliance South Australia www.sa.childcarealliance.org.au
- Department of Social Services www.dss.gov.au
- Lady Gowrie NSW www.gowriensw.com.au
What type of content do child care centre directors find most valuable?
The most valued content type is email. Closely followed by industry newsletters* and searching for information on the internet. Downloadable articles and ebooks came in at third place. Interestingly, the survey revealed that the participants are not keen on visiting blogs themselves but prefer having articles sent to them, for example in newsletter format via email.
Social media, i.e. Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and Google+, turns out to be relatively unpopular. This is surprising as many B2B communications across various industries are done via social media. This demonstrates that the child care industry is still new to this form of content and more traditional methods are favoured.
Who do child care director’s turn to for business advice?
A majority of directors stated they turn to work colleagues for business advice, closely followed by their accountants. Professional advisers or peers from another centre rank as the third most common sources of business advice. This highlights that colleagues and peers remain an important factor within the child care industry. It’s also interesting that directors are increasingly taking advantage of other services their accountants offer rather than just utilising them for tax returns.
The child care industry is moving from being predominantly offline, reliant on printed publications and newsletters, to more of an online, tech savvy community. This shift directly affects how directors source the content they need in order to run their centres successfully. While many directors still turn to offline methods, online is becoming more popular. Regardless of the content source, there is an ever-increasing amount of information out there so directors need systematic, efficient and effective business processes in order to run their centres on a professional and competent level.
To read more about other aspects from the recent survey, including the top key challenges child care centres encounter and what their primary goals are over the next 12 months, head to part of one of this blog series here.
To find out how you perform compared to other centres across Australia and to get more information on what the research revealed, download your own copy of survey highlights by clicking on the button below.
Alternatively, if you’d like to be kept up-to-date on the latest industry news and receive helpful content that can assist you with running a thriving child care centre, you can subscribe to our blog.
Calling for Comments
Which online publications/newsletter or printed publications do you turn to to keep up-to-date with what’s happening in the child care industry? Please let us know in the comments section below.
*The source of the newsletters, whether they were delivered by email or print, was not determined at the time of the survey.
