The first day nursery in Western Australia to provide care for working mothers was opened in 1908 by the Children’s Protection Society. Based on a philosophy of helping socially disadvantaged women help themselves, the centre was staffed by nurses and volunteers. Priority was given to children under 3 years of age and much emphasis was placed on the physical well being of the child.
Governments did not pay much attention to child rearing issues until after World War 1 when the high rate of infant mortality was seen as a threat to national survival. In the late 1920s the Infant Health Association was set up by the West Australian Government to educate mothers and girls in the correct methods of infant and child care. Standardised and efficient routines were advocated and mothers were given much advice on how to provide "proper care". This became a model for a national body which in turn lead to the establishment of infant welfare centres and specialised mothercraft training for nurses throughout Australia. The first training centre in Western Australia was Ngala, which also provided child care programs to meet the needs of families.
During the 1950s and 60s there was a strong focus on the importance of mothers staying at home with their young children, however the women’s movement in the 1970s lead to a steady growth in childcare services. By the early 80s women’s participation in the workforce, plus the number of single parents had risen dramatically, creating an urgent need for better childcare services. The Commonwealth Government embarked upon a policy of enhanced childcare provision and in the next ten years the Child care Industry exploded. Although TAFE had been delivering the Child care Certificate (Known as the "Triple C") since the mid 1970s, only mother-craft trained nurses were qualified to work as infant and toddler care-givers. This changed by the late 80s when TAFE graduates became recognised for their ability to work with infants and toddlers as well as older children. TAFE graduates then became the preferred employees in child care centres. (Hutchins, T & Sims, M. Program Planning for Infants and Toddlers, an Ecological Approach, Prentice Hall, 1999)
Training for the Associate Diploma in Child care started at Midland in 1989. The Senior Lecturer was Barbara Thompson, a trained midwife and child health nurse who had been lecturing at Meerilinga. Other lecturers included Chris Hannan and Gill King. Chris Hannan had completed midwifery studies and Gill King, also a child health nurse, was the founder of the Red Robin Child Care Centre in Midland. When Barbara Thompson accepted a position at Ngala, Gill King became Senior Lecturer.
|
The first group of students graduated in 1990. Students arranged a graduation party to mark the occasion for which they insisted everyone must come dressed as a very small child. The lecturers enthusiastically complied, only to find they were the only ones dressed in nappies - much to the great amusement of the students.
Today, many of those first graduates hold key industry positions and form part of the industry network that Midland TAFE, now the Midland Campus of Swan TAFE relies on for placing students in work experience.
