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 […]
Early childhood is an undeniably critical life stage. Decades of research and neuroscience supports this and the knowledge that quality early education and care (ECEC) programs are beneficial for children’s learning and development (OECD, 2017; Shonkoff, 2010). We also know that, alongside academics, we can (and should) be working towards wellbeing outcomes for children in […]
South Australia’s royal commission into early childhood education led by Julia Gillard has released an interim report. The key recommendation is preschool for all three-year-olds (in a move similar to other states). But the report notes one of the critical considerations around this change will be the early education workforce. SA’s report comes as the Productivity Commission […]
I was very fortunate to attend the Early Learning Summit hosted by The Front Project in Canberra late last year. On the journey home, I found myself reflecting on the conversations and future visions for our sector along with a lingering question: Why did I choose this career? Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash I […]
Early Childhood Australia (ECA) is working to inform the Victorian early childhood education and care sector about the Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS)—to promote the wellbeing and safety of children. This blog explains the CISS and how services—known as Information Sharing Entities (ISEs)—can utilise the scheme, and why sharing information matters. It also includes a case […]
In early childhood services we are often faced with challenges from policy documents and positions of national, state and territory authorities that sometimes conflict with, or make us rethink, how we run our programs and meet children’s needs. Promoting physical activity The Early Years Learning Framework demands that we underpin all our practices and policies on […]
