The limits of ratio-based workforce planning
Australia’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector is at a critical inflection point. While reforms like an Australia-wide ECEC system, workers retention grant and increased subsidy access are steps forward for families, educators remain under intense pressure. Workforce shortages, high turnover, and burnout are affecting the very fabric of quality education—and ratios alone won’t fix that.
Real sustainability isn’t just about compliance or numbers on a roster—it’s about culture, wellbeing, and long-term investment in people. As the evidence shows, environments that support educator agency, workload balance, and professional development directly influence retention and the quality of care children receive (Thorpe et al., 2023).
Workforce sustainability in early childhood education means creating environments where educators are supported, valued and retained — not just rostered to meet ratios.
The current state of Australia’s ECEC workforce
In 2024, over 1 in 3 early childhood educators in Australia considered leaving the profession. High caseloads, low wages, under the roof ratio system and a lack of recognition have driven many talented professionals to exit.
Yes, meeting educator-to-child ratios is essential. But if we’re only just meeting them—if rosters are constantly on the edge, if staff are missing breaks or carrying the weight of a two-person job—then ratios become meaningless in practice. As Logan et al. (2023) found, a narrow focus on ratios can overshadow the lived experience of educators and dilute the intent of quality frameworks.
Reframing the workforce equation
The question we should be asking isn’t “Do we have enough staff to meet ratios?” It’s:
- Are educators given time for planning and professional growth?
- Are breaks respected?
- Are there clear pathways for advancement?
- Is wellbeing embedded into the service culture—not just on R U, OK? Day?
What sustainable early childhood workforces look like globally
In Finland, educators are required to hold bachelor’s-level qualifications and are allocated meaningful planning time during the workday. In New Zealand, a higher proportion of government funding is tied to employing qualified teachers. These structural supports underpin sustainable practice.
What if Australia matched its rhetoric about the importance of early learning with similar systemic investment?
Three practical ways to improve workforce sustainability
1. Rethink rostering for realistic workforce needs
Many services operate on razor-thin staffing. Relief cover is hard to come by, and team leaders are often pulled into ratio-based roles with no time to mentor or lead. These rosters fail to factor in that on any given day; someone will inevitably be away on personal or annual leave.
Possible solutions:
- Introduce additional permanent ‘floater’ or flexible relief roles within larger services or networks.
- Allocate paid off-the-floor time weekly—not just for planning but for supervision and team reflection.
- Advocate for leadership roles that are truly off the floor and focused on culture-building.
A study by Irvine et al. (2023) underscores how job satisfaction and staff retention improve when services support professional identity through leadership and reflective time.
2. Make professional growth part of everyday practice
Career progression should be an integral part of every educator’s journey, not just for those pursuing management roles. We find it almost humorous that for many early learning services that provide educational experiences to young children, there are tiny budgets for developing their own staff.
Possible solutions:
- Partner with training organisations to offer micro-credentials in areas like inclusion, sustainability, and trauma-informed practice.
- Provide mentoring opportunities that reward experienced educators for staying in educator roles—not just moving up.
- Celebrate “lead educator“ roles as specialist pathways, not stepping stones.
This aligns with global evidence that educator development pathways improve long-term workforce sustainability and reduce attrition (Simoncini et al., 2024).
3. Embed educator wellbeing into service culture
Wellbeing shouldn’t be a poster on a wall—it should be a metric we actively measure and prioritise.
Possible solutions:
- Conduct regular, anonymous wellbeing surveys and act on the feedback.
- Roster-protected mental health days or “personal development afternoons.”
- Embed reflective practice into team meetings with space for emotional check-ins.
- Have weekly fresh juice mornings where staff can take turns spending time talking to each other whilst being nourished at the same time
- Ensure that Centre leadership teams have an open-door policy and the training and people skills to lead well.
Educator wellbeing is not a “nice to have“—it’s a foundational driver of service quality. Research consistently shows a direct link between educators emotional well-being and children’s social-emotional outcomes (McFarland-Piazza et al., 2024).
The role of recruitment in long-term educator retention
At Early Years Talent, we work with educators every day who want to stay in the sector—they just need the right environment. Recruitment is not just about filling roles; it’s about matching people with services that understand and support them.
We encourage services to reframe their recruitment brand: don’t just talk about ratios and compliance. Talk about culture, support, and growth. Being over-ratio should be the norm, not a rare occurrence.
If you are an Educator looking for your next job opportunity, visit our career page here.
Lets go above and beyond for the children we serve
The ECEC sector is foundational to Australia’s economy and society. If we continue to rely on passion alone to keep it afloat, we risk losing our most dedicated educators.
Let’s move beyond minimum compliance. Let’s build systems that nourish those who do the work of nation-building—day in, day out. When educators thrive, children thrive.
Reference List
Irvine, S., Thorpe, K., McDonald, P., et al. (2023). Job crafting in early childhood education: A strategy for sustaining educator engagement and quality. Early Child Development and Care, 193(2), 174–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2021.2007098
Logan, H., Press, F., & Sumsion, J. (2023). Quality beyond compliance: Repositioning educators’ work in ECEC policy. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 24(1), 19–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491221094834
McFarland-Piazza, L., Saunders, J., & Cassidy, D. (2024). Educator wellbeing and its impact on early childhood practiceand children’s emotional development. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 49(1), 36–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/18369391231216833
Simoncini, K., Cartmel, J., & Young, S. (2024). Sustainable professional learning in early childhood education: What works and why. International Journal of Early Childhood, 56(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-023-00352-2
Thorpe, K., Westwood, E., Jansen, E., et al. (2023). Workforce sustainability in Australian ECEC: Rethinking policy and reform. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 21(1), 58–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X221146153