Recently I was asked to speak at a career expo for pre-service early childhood teachers preparing to transition to the field. I guess the universe heard me loud and clear when I said I was ready to say ‘yes’ to new challenges and things that terrify me (like public speaking and playing team sports) in […]
ECA: You’re an Inclusion Professional with Early Childhood Australia Northern Territory. What does your job involve? What is an Inclusion Professional? Alex: My job involves a wide range of hats and roles. No one day is the same. You can find me in the office or out at services, both remote and regional. While in […]
Early childhood education is a constant revolving door of new information, insightful understandings, complex perspectives and thought-provoking research. Our role as early childhood educators and teachers is to dive headfirst into this pool of information and filter the noise of overwhelming perspectives in our profession, developing our practices. Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash That’s […]
At a time of significant staff shortage and challenges in the early childhood sector, it is worth pausing to recognise the substantial contribution of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. Every day, across Australia, hundreds of students under their trainer and assessor’s guidance are working towards Certificate III and Diploma qualifications. The image was […]
A Community of Practice (CoP) is best defined as a space for individuals to interact and learn from one another in partnership with an understanding of sharing knowledge. Engaging in a CoP will allow you to not only deepen your knowledge on a subject or topic area, but it will also allow you to network […]
As an early childhood educator in Melbourne, I found myself in a bit of a funk at the beginning of September. Working through the COVID-19 lockdowns had taken its toll. I think it’s a place many educators will probably identify with this year. I was fortunate enough to be the recipient of one of the […]
There’s no doubt that professional learning is essential for educators. It provides opportunities to share, network, set and achieve goals within the early education space, and it is inherently linked to quality outcomes for children. But how do you make a commitment to professional learning and make it a priority? Here are five tips to […]
Being assessed and rated can understandably be a nervous time for educators. ACECQA caught up with Vashti Hicks, an Authorised Officer with the Queensland Department of Education and Training, to discuss her role and how services can prepare and embrace the assessment and ratings process. Tell us a little about your background I have been […]
Susan Irvine, Queensland University of Technology; Jennifer Sumsion; Jo Lunn, Queensland University of Technology, and Karen Thorpe, Queensland University of Technology Despite lip service being paid to the importance of early education, little is being done to encourage early education staff to stay in the profession. One in five early childhood educators plans to leave […]
