The Malinauskas Labor Government is introducing a ban on the use of personal mobile devices in early years services to strengthen safety and better protect young children across the state.
All South Australian childcare and preschool services will be required to implement a policy and procedure, addressing the use of personal devices and ensure this is in line with the National Model Code. All services will be required to provide assurance and a copy of these documents to the state's independent regulator, the Education Standards Board (ESB) by the end of September.
Services that do not provide policies and procedures or have not complied with these requirements may have conditions imposed, including fines of up to $50,000 or even suspension.
The South Australian Government has been working closely with the Victorian Government over the past few weeks and the two jurisdictions will be the first to have the ban in place.
The National Model Code outlines that only service-issued devices should be used when taking images or videos of children while providing education and care. Personal mobile devices capable of taking images or videos, personal storage, or file transfer media cannot be in possession of any person while they are working directly with children.
Further information on supporting services with the implementation of the rollout will be provided by the ESB who will undertake 'spot-checks' to ensure appropriate monitoring and compliance with these requirements.
The ban is the first in a series of actions being investigated to strengthen safety for children in early childhood education and care services.
As put by Blair Boyer
The safety and wellbeing of our children is paramount, and we are working quickly to strengthen the safety requirements for long day care services and preschools.
The Malinauskas Labor Government has demonstrated that it has zero tolerance for poor behaviour from early childhood providers – which is why we have significantly increased funding levels to our independent regulator the Education Standards Board by $7m resulting in a doubling of staff and a 63 per cent increase in service visits.
All providers in South Australia must now ensure they have provided their policies and procedures to ban the use of personal mobile devices to our independent regulator.
This ban is in line with changes recently announced by the Victorian Government and demonstrates our commitment to child safety.
As put by Education Standards Board Chief Executive, Benn Gramola
The Education Standards Board fully supports the ban of personal mobile devices in long day care services and preschools. Our priority is to minimise any risks to the safety, health and wellbeing of children.
We're aware a large number of services have already implemented the National Model Code, which is great to see and highlights the proactive approach that many in the sector are already taking to address this issue.
The ESB will provide further information to those affected by these changes to ensure everyone understands their responsibilities.
Services who do not comply with this ban may be subject to regulatory action including placing conditions on their service approval.
