Head office sucks - Lead Educator Affinity Education Employee Review

it is a big group so stable

less opportunity to get prompted

Will come across some lovely people.

I started as a first-year trainee educator during the transition when Affinity Education took over, and there was little to no support provided during this changeover. Management was extremely unstable and disorganised. The original management team appeared overwhelmed and eventually left, leaving the centre without consistent leadership. For months, there was no permanent manager or assistant manager, with staff from other centres, higher-ups, and temporary leaders stepping in inconsistently. Due to this instability, many staff members and families left the centre, which added further pressure and uncertainty. When a new manager was finally appointed, the environment became very negative and unsupportive. She openly stated she was unable to support staff due to a lack of support from higher management, and she was later dismissed without explanation. The centre again went months without qualified leadership, forcing unqualified or inexperienced staff to step into leadership roles. We were often under ratio, which is unsafe and illegal, and staff were placed in the distressing position of having to turn families away at drop-off due to insufficient staffing. As an unqualified trainee, I was placed in a room leader role, responsible for children, programming, observations, and goals, despite having no experience or proper guidance. Due to severe staff shortages, the centre relied heavily on agency workers, meaning children had different unfamiliar educators almost every day, which was unsettling for them. This resulted in trainees and educators being the only consistent and “safe” people for children, while also managing overwhelming responsibilities. The stress level was extremely high — staff regularly cried, felt burnt out, and were deeply worried about the safety and wellbeing of the children. Overall, it felt that business and finances were prioritised over staff support, stability, and child safety, which was very distressing, especially as someone new to the industry.