English is not the first language of many families in Australia, with 21% of Australians speaking a language other than English at home (ABS, 2017). Today, Australia is one of the top 10 countries in the world where the most languages are spoken (Eberhard et al., 2022). This will probably not surprise early childhood educators, […]
Since 2017, more than 110 countries have experienced significant protests[i] and Australia is no exception. As COVID-19 vaccination rates continue to rise in Australia, anti-vaccination mandate protests have been growing in response to a perceived infringement of individual rights and freedoms. In Hong Kong in 2019 and 2020, protests were similarly related to perceived infringements, […]
Rolled out more than ten years ago and a key element of the National Quality Framework, the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) has had an enormous positive impact on early childhood education in Australia. The review process, which is now underway, provides a valuable opportunity for the framework to be refined in line with recent […]
This question was asked recently during a weekend primetime TV family quiz show. Among the top three answers? Clown, childcare worker and kindergarten teacher. It made DR CAROLINE COHRSSEN reflect on play in early childhood learning and a ‘game’ approach to preschool mathematics by the Northern Territory Government. Find out more about her work and […]
Teaching children what we know starts with the presumption that we already have the knowledge that they will need in the future. But what if the skills they will need are for jobs that we haven’t even thought of yet? Do today’s children need new skills and do we have what it takes to help […]
When we ask children to explain their thinking to us we gain an insight into what they already know, says CAROLINE COHRSSEN. She encourages us to reach beyond what we’re comfortable doing in our work with young children in her blog (originally posted in 2015). Cohrssen translates Early Years Learning Framework concepts on mathematical language and symbols into practical steps and conversation starters that foster young children’s deep thinking. Engaging […]
Children’s self-awareness develops gradually. Starting with physical self-awareness in infancy, children become increasingly able to gather and understand information about themselves. When children are three and four years old, they often focus on observable characteristics like eye colour, but they also evaluate their own abilities in comparison with other children’s abilities: they know who is […]
