A growing trend has seen the term ‘love’ used to describe everything from government welfare drug testing to what educators should aim for in their practice and environments for young children. Two blog posts on The Spoke examine the issue from very different perspectives. In this blog, LISA BRYANT argues that love is not interchangeable […]
The last week has seen a flurry of media releases and reports on the cost of child care and whether the new Child Care Subsidy (CCS) is achieving its goals of making childcare more affordable and boosting workforce participation. The conclusions contained in the media releases and reports often don’t seem consistent, and can raise […]
The Australian Labor Party’s election promise to work out with the early childhood sector how they can facilitate a 20 percent wage increase over eight years is a bold and very welcome move that will generate far more economic benefits than the temporary adjustment costs, writes Early Childhood Australia CEO SAMANTHA PAGE. The early childhood profession […]
‘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 […]
Professor Adrian Piccoli shares his experience sending his children to early childhood education and care, this piece is an extract from his recently published book ‘12 ways your child can get the best out of school’. Professor Piccoli will be a keynote presenter at ECA’s 2019 AJEC Symposium. You can purchase the book here on our website and […]
It‘s natural for families to discuss with friends what their young children are doing and learning in early childhood education and care. But it can be unsettling too and it can prompt many questions for early childhood educators, directors and managers. In this blog, DR WENDY BOYD demystifies ‘real learning’ and developmental milestones. She examines ACECQA‘s […]
At the end of January 2017, more than 320,000 children will have their first day at kindergarten. Over the course of the year, early childhood teachers and educators will use their expertise and knowledge to build those children’s social, emotional, literacy and numeracy skills, their critical and creative thinking, their perseverance, sociability and self-esteem. These […]
In the past week there has been misinformed and uneducated commentary made about the early childhood sector – Early Childhood Australia was disappointed with these comments but chose to not respond in the media as it received too much media attention and we did not wish to increase the profile of the Senators involved. Below […]
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 […]
I was introduced to the idea that the care-education dichotomy was something we needed to move beyond, as a first year Early Childhood undergraduate back in 1980. We have come a long way, but the questions are still relevant due to issues of historical context, discursive politics and semantics. My PhD thesis examined the nature […]
