As summer heat drives us inside we revisit concepts from an ECA Research in Practice Series, Living Spaces—Indoor learning environments written by Luke Touhill. Young children’s play is so much deeper than the ‘game’ visible to adults or the equipment that sets up the play experience. The spaces children and adults live and move through shape their […]
When the words of Kev Carmody’s and Paul Kelly’s song ‘From little things big things grow’ echoed across the room of 300 people at the conclusion of the ECA’s Reconciliation Symposium, I knew things had changed. Changed for ECA, for the participants and just maybe changed for the early childhood sector. When the ECA Reconciliation Advisory Group first […]
Megan O’Connell, Victoria University; Bronwyn Hinz, Victoria University; Hannah Cole, Victoria University, and Stacey Fox, Victoria University Early childhood is one of the most important areas in Australian education. But according to a new report: nearly five years after the National Quality Standards were introduced, one-quarter of services have not been assessed. Of those that […]
Every workplace has its unique culture, which is shaped not only by the philosophy of the workplace but is also greatly influenced by the people that make up the organisation. All staff need to adapt and immerse themselves in its culture to have a sense of belonging. Most people would experience a period of adjustment […]
What is creativity and why is it so important to support children’s creative thinking? For such a common topic, creativity is difficult to define. In an early childhood setting, creativity is often linked to art—painting and drawing and so on. However, creativity is also an important part of developing children’s problem solving and innovative thinking. […]
In 2002, the Secretary General of the United Nations commissioned the UN Millennium Project ‘to develop a concrete action plan for the world to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to reverse the grinding poverty, hunger and disease affecting billions of people.’ The 8 Millennium Development Goals were established in 2000, covering a range of […]
University of New England For over a decade we have talked about the care–education dichotomy as being false and irrelevant given that care is considered to be a part of education, not separate from it. A generation of early childhood professionals have grown up in services where care is seen as part of education. As […]
The Recognise campaign has been in the media this week with much attention on Indigenous leaders at Kirribilli House meeting with the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition. They were there to discuss proposed amendments to the Australian Constitution through a Referendum that would recognise Indigenous Australians — the nation’s first peoples. For those of […]
Every three years data is collected on children’s development in their first year of school. This is called the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). This year a new data collection is taking place, providing an up-to-date snapshot of children’s progress against five key areas, or domains, of child development: physical health and wellbeing social competence […]
On 31 March 2015, Australia’s first National Children’s Commissioner, Megan Mitchell, and Early Childhood Australia’s CEO, Sam Page, will jointly launch a statement of intent on supporting young children’s rights. This collaboratively developed document provides all professionals and services working with young children with a framework to be a clear and credible voice advocating in […]
