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 […]
All posts by Early Childhood Australia
Reflection on the ECA Reconciliation Symposium
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 […]
Government must boost attendance rates in early education
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 […]
Developing inclusive relationships among early childhood staff
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 […]
Supporting children’s creativity
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. […]