After school care: how can we bridge the work-school gulf?

The gap between school days that end at 3pm and work that ends at 5pm is piling pressure on parents, hurting productivity and failing children. A new partnership between Sydney Policy Lab and Brain and Mind Centre has gathered experts from across the University of Sydney to discover ways to ease the burden of the gulf between work and school hours.

Led by Dr Kate Harrison Brennan and Professor Ian Hickie, the partnership’s first discussion paper, Beyond the Bell, sets out the challenges facing the overlooked outside school hours care (OSHC) sector, and highlights the host of opportunities awaiting families and governments if support were available for trialling new models of before and after school care and extracurricular activities. The paper was co-authored with 89 Degrees East and input from more than a dozen academics.

“We know families are experiencing huge stressors trying to juggle 9-5 work hours with 9-3 school hours, especially for parents of younger primary school age children who can’t get home by themselves like older students might,” says Dr Harrison Brennan.

“Like a lot of parents, I’m juggling full-time work with being there for our young school-aged kids. This looks like sharing in picking up our kids from school, sometimes getting them from sports, music or dance practice, and then through the nighttime routine. All before logging back on to keep working or ‘catch up’. It’s tough, and that’s with a lot of support and family involvement, as well as a great deal of flexibility at work.

“The point is kids need a chance to move seamlessly from the formal school day into opportunities to play in safe and stimulating environments and learn things that can’t be covered in the classroom. Families need reliable, longer after-school care simply to be able to do a full work day before leaving to do the after-school pick-up, and they need help with the costs of care so parents can stay in the workforce.”

The Beyond the Bell Discussion paper found recent early childhood education and care reforms have been essential but focused on children aged 0-5, overlooking the specific OSHC (out of school hours care) needs of families with kids in primary school.

Demand for OSHC services is growing as parents return to work. In couple families, the proportion with both parents working full-time hours rose from 22 percent in 2009 to 31 percent in 2021.

However, as few as 19.2 percent of 5-12 year olds in major cities access OSHC, falling to 3.3 percent in remote and very remote parts of Australia.

Of 2,260,382 Australian primary school children, just 566,600 use the 5,077 subsidy-eligible OSHC services. Those attending OSHC go an average of 12.4 hours a week.

Meeting demand requires both new services in existing OSHC deserts and the expansion of existing services in high-demand areas, the Beyond the Bell Discussion paper said.

University of Sydney experts have identifed opportunities in OSHC reform to address disadvantage and improve children's mental and physical wellbeing, educational outcomes, social development, online safety, and skills for the future.

For parents, new investment will create jobs and improved workforce participation, addressing gender inequality, the Beyond the Bell Discussion Paper said.

The paper's authors are calling for:

• commitment from federal politicians to convene a post-election summit of parents, the sector and experts on the future of OSHC
• funding and a roadmap, agreed at the summit, for place-based, community-led pilots of expanded extra-curriculars delivered through OSHC
• a dedicated agenda item on the work-school gulf at the next education ministers meeting.

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