Spending on early years education seems to be a tough sell for politicians. A significant number of Australians, both politicians and voters, see “childcare” as a service to help parents get back to work, despite growing recognition that early education is important for children’s learning and development. The discussion tends to focus on household budgets […]
Monthly Archives: May 2016
Reading to your child: the difference it makes
If you are a parent or a teacher, you most probably read stories to young children. Together, you laugh and point at the pictures. You engage them with a few simple questions. And they respond. So what happens to children when they participate in shared reading? Does it make a difference to their learning? If […]
Budget delay for families is a chance to get Families Package right
What a difference a year makes. Last year’s federal Budget included a $3.5 billion investment to begin a new system of Child Care Subsidies in the new Jobs for Families package. Then, in November last year, we saw changes to the package to cut the subsidy rate for high income earners to 20 per cent – reducing the package by […]