Montessori Academy shares how important it is for children to continue outdoor play in the months of winter. It is common for adults to restrict children to indoor play, and only permit play outdoors when it is warm and sunny. The benefits explained in this article could lead you to reconsider children’s play outside in […]
Many children around the world now have a digital footprint before they can even walk! Their pictures and videos are featured on their families’ social media channels or even their own dedicated pages managed by their families. But what are the risks involved? At what point does it become ‘sharenting’? And do educators have a […]
‘Putting children on a hi-vis alert in the community is depriving them an opportunity to take responsibility for their own safety.’ KAREN HOPE and HELEN JENNINGS, explore what this means and give their perspective on pre-school aged children wearing hi-vis clothing when outside the enclosure of their early childhood setting. In parks, museums and other […]
The future of Australia rests on early education. Early Childhood Australia’s (ECA) National President, Christine Legg talks about children’s early development and why Australia needs to invest in and support a high-quality early childhood education system. If you imagine a child’s brain as a five-drawer filing cabinet, research indicates that the majority of those drawers […]
The many gatherings of family and friends during the holiday season give parents a special chance to teach their daughters an empowering lesson: you don’t owe anyone your physical affection. “The ritual of demanding affection from children on cue is one of those tiny, everyday little lessons in which we teach children—especially girls—that they are […]
‘No-one is born a good citizen’ said Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General. But children are born with rights. This blog explores children’s rights and how they are identified in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children’s rights to rest, leisure, recreation and play appropriate to their age, are recognised under Article […]
The words ‘moral courage’ echoed through the 2018 ECA National conference after international keynote Dr Cindy Blackstock challenged educators and carers to consider how they can and do advocate for children every day through their work. Anti-poverty Week seems a good time to think about focusing on children’s needs, especially as one in six children […]
‘Children have taught me the most important lessons about advocacy’ says DR CINDY BLACKSTOCK. They are ‘experts in love and fairness’ yet ‘we often view children in ways that reduce their dignity and development’. Dr Blackstock, an international keynote speaker at the 2018 ECA National Conference in Sydney (19–22 September), spoke with ECA about moral courage and […]
We consent to and ask permission about many things every day, writes DEANNE CARSON, yet consent remains controversial. In this blog Carson explores what an understanding of each other’s rights, and of consent, can bring to daily interactions with young children. Carson attracted worldwide attention earlier this year when interviewed about young children’s capacity to […]
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 […]
