KAREN HOPE shares some key discussion points after facilitating a group of educators, who were delving into re-thinking ways to document learning and development for educators and children. Karen asked the group ‘what current documentation practices might they leave behind?’—This opened up ideas to what changes could be implemented to create documentation to improve ideas, […]
This compelling research gives us the outcome of high-quality professional learning for early childhood teachers and the opportunities it creates in our sector. Educating our educators not only benefits them but it benefits our children, their learning and their development. Australia’s early childhood educators—often the unsung heroes of the sector—deserve the best when it comes […]
‘Sometimes you just give, give, give and there’s nothing else to give’— Early childhood teacher As part of Catherine Jones’ PhD study, she interviewed educators and asked them to provide monthly reflective journal entries on the topic of workplace wellbeing. These educators described what workplace wellbeing meant to them and also highlighted the ways in […]
This article, written by Penny Van Bergen and Carol Newall, first appeared on The Conversation, on July 4, 2018. Children typically begin lying in the preschool years, between two and four years of age. These intentional attempts at deception may worry parents, who fear their child will become a pint-sized social deviant. But from a developmental perspective, lying in […]
Wellbeing and resilience are hot topics for young children and early learning. New research turns the lens on early childhood educators and their settings. A workshop at ECA’s 2018 National Conference will present findings on the implications of this research for educator resilience and team practices. In the meantime academic and researcher, MADELEINE DOBSON, provides […]
‘Half way down the stairs is a stair where I sit There isn’t any other stair quite like it. I’m not at the bottom; I’m not at the top So this is the stair where I always stop’ (Milne, 1932, p147). There are approximately 194 900 early learning staff currently employed across Australia, with long […]
Originally posted in 2018, this post was updated in December 2020. Karen Hope is a presenter at the 2021 ECA National Conference. The early childhood care and education sector has a workforce that often places the welfare and needs of others above their own. Because of this, in the face of ever competing demands and […]
According the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016), in 2015 there were 48 517 divorces granted in Australia and 47.5 per cent of these cases involved children. This is without considering the number of parents who were never married and separated. It is then an unfortunate fact that many children who will come into our care […]
When you type ‘leadership’ into Google you are overwhelmed with a wealth of information on leadership styles and techniques. Look up ‘leadership early childhood’ and one of the first references is a wonderful article from Every Child (Volume 18, Number 4, 2012) which outlines the qualities it takes to be a leader in the sector […]
The study A two-phase mixed method study was completed in 2016 with over 200 Early Childhood Teachers (ECTs) participating in an online survey to determine a clearer understanding of factors related to job satisfaction and intention to turnover in the current Australian Long Day Care (LDC) context. Ten highly satisfied teachers (identified from the survey) […]
