Building and Keeping Great OSHC Teams

When OSHC services talk about workforce challenges, the conversation often begins with recruitment. How do we attract more educators, fill vacancies and maintain a stable roster?

These are necessary questions, but recruitment is only the beginning of an educator’s relationship with a service. Once they join the team, their everyday experience begins to answer something else: Do I have a meaningful place here?

Professional belonging is not created by simply describing the team as a family or adding someone’s name to the roster. It develops when educators understand the purpose of the service, know what is expected of them and feel that their observations, knowledge and ideas can contribute to the work.

A new educator may initially need clear direction about supervision, procedures and routines. They also need opportunities to understand the thinking beneath practice. Why does the service organise the afternoon this way? How does its philosophy shape decisions? What does the team notice about children’s play, relationships and participation?

Without that deeper connection, educators may learn how to complete tasks without understanding how they belong within the professional work of the service.

Trust matters too. Educators are more likely to ask questions, acknowledge uncertainty and contribute ideas when they know they will be listened to respectfully. This does not mean expectations disappear or every suggestion is adopted. It means feedback, challenge and learning can occur without people feeling that one mistake or unanswered question defines their capability.

Professional learning is another way services communicate that educators matter. When people are invited into reflection, planning and problem-solving, they begin to see themselves as contributors rather than simply the people who implement decisions made elsewhere.

Belonging cannot compensate for insecure employment, difficult hours, workload or inadequate conditions. Retention is shaped by structural issues as well as workplace culture. However, culture still influences whether educators experience their work as isolating and transactional or as purposeful participation within a team.

Building a strong OSHC team is therefore not only about finding the right people. It is also about creating the conditions in which people can develop confidence, build relationships and see that their contribution has value.