Behind the Scenes
Providing support to the KU staff
who work directly with children
Professional Development
KU views the ongoing professional development of staff
as an essential component in the provision of high quality
early childhood education and care programs and as an
important part of “Making the KU difference”.
In 2009 KU held 199 professional development sessions and
learning opportunities for which there were a total of 3,395
participants. This included the KU Professional Development
Program Calendar which conducted 117 workshops for
1,620 staff. Twenty-eight of these sessions were computer
training with a total of 196 attendees..
The KU Annual Seminar attracted 526 attendees, hosted
keynote speaker The Hon. Kate Ellis MP and Sandra
Cheeseman and Jennifer Sumsion, co writers of the Early
Years Learning Framework, and provided 24 individual
workshops attended by 453 people.
Eight workshops and orientation sessions covering
Occupational Health and Safety and Child Protection
were held with a total of 219 attendees.
Fifty Directors and Regional meetings attracting 1,103
staff were held. Topics covered through these meetings
included ELLI, Early Start Denver Model, and Guiding
Children’s Behaviour.
Human Resources
The overall number of KU staff increased by 171 people
in 2009 as a result of new centres, programs, and staff to
child ratios in long day care. KU recruited 47 new Teachers
and 380 Child Care Workers. Staff turnover during 2009
has fallen to 15.3% which was down from 19.2% the
previous year.
The Employee Assistance Program provides mediation and
conciliation in addition to counselling and support services
for staff. A total of 41 employees accessed the service
during 2009, which involved 159 counselling sessions.
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KU Children’s Services
The Occupational Health and Safety and Workers
Compensation functions have continued to reduce claims
excesses. This has resulted in a premium reduction of
$390,000 for 2010. The average duration of Workers
Compensation claims fell from 230 hours in 2008 to 80
hours, a reduction of 65%. A new safety program was
delivered to 173 employees during their induction training.
KU continues to maintain a good industrial relations
record and negotiated a new national union enterprise
agreement for our child care workers and ancillary staff.
KU now has 3 national agreements which has reduced
the number of industrial instruments under which KU
staff are paid from 13 to 4.
Information Technology and Telecommunications
In 2009 KU rolled out new computers to 120 Centres
as well as replacing 100 computers in our Central and
Regional Offices. All KU computers now run a standard
operating environment and all KU Centre Directors,
Centre clerical staff, and Central Office staff have be