Families are where learning begins. Babies and young children are naturally curious, responsive and eager to explore their surroundings. Families—in all their glorious diversity and ‘not quite perfection’—are where the young child starts this journey, a lifelong path outwards from self, towards mastery and understanding. First conversations and relationships, creativity, capacity to express joy, kindness, […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
