With days growing shorter and Earth Day and Nature Play Week behind us, a recent trip to the other side of the planet came to mind, where dark winter days and extreme weather showed how differently humans live with and in nature. The fog had cleared by the time we landed at Oslo’s Gardermoen airport […]
This article was taken from ECA latest edition of Every Child. To purchase your copy, click here. The Honey Tree Preschool Bellbird is a 39-place centre located in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales. After noticing a reoccurrence of black silt and dust on the white architraves and window sills, it was decided to research ideas for […]
Why is guidance on young children and digital technology needed now? As a Discussion Paper is released—Towards a Statement on young children and digital technology—co-chairs of ECA’s Digital Policy Group (DPG), Professor Susan Edwards and Professor Leon Straker, address this question and reveal some of the findings from work so far. You may have heard or […]
Infants and young children cannot always tell us that they are upset or explain what is worrying them. So it helps to know about the way they send messages, or their cues. These can be different for different children but there are some common ones to look out for. Changes in behaviour are often the […]
Saturday 17 March 2018 is a significant date for Early Childhood Australia (ECA), as it marks our 80th birthday. This time 80 years ago the state Kindergarten Unions and the Kindergarten Teachers’ College, Kew, met in Melbourne to discuss creating an executive body that would lobby and work with the ‘Federal Government on matters related […]
One-third of preschoolers have never seen a dentist and most parents believe children don’t need to see one before they’re three years old. Yet one-quarter of Australian children have tooth decay that requires filling by early primary school. One in ten require an extraction. Results released today from the latest Royal Children’s Hospital National Child Health […]
When ECA worked on the Start Early. Respectful relationships for life project, aimed at fostering relationship skills in very young children, educators commented on how often adults—educators, family, neighbours and friends—will comment on a girl’s dress when there are so many other things to talk about. Even with the best intentions, one educator said it […]
Alice Ishbel Hay Creswick was a leader, advocate and early pioneer of early childhood education and care in Australia. Alice was born in Scotland in 1889 and educated in England, Switzerland and Germany. She came to Australia with her Australian husband, pastoralist Henry Creswick, where they raised four children, living in the Riverina District of […]
‘Half way down the stairs is a stair where I sit There isn’t any other stair quite like it. I’m not at the bottom; I’m not at the top So this is the stair where I always stop’ (Milne, 1932, p147). There are approximately 194 900 early learning staff currently employed across Australia, with long […]
Middle ear infections can be a major reason for hearing problems in young children. When left untreated or when they constantly recur through a child’s first years, early learning and development can be profoundly affected. Speech, language and social behaviour delays are common signs of hearing loss. The impacts reach far into children’s future lives. […]
