Since 2013 children across Australia have been attending kindergarten for 15 hours each week. For eight years they have been the beneficiaries of a funding partnership between the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments. These children are now teenagers in their first year of secondary school! It’s a partnership that has enabled more children to engage…
Educators are in positions of enormous privilege in the relationships they share with young children and their families. Such relationships are built on trust and respect, even when early childhood education and care may also be a necessity for the family concerned.—Jackie Brien For many families of young children with disabilities, their experience of the…
Through Australia’s bushfires, COVID-19 and a number of other highly stressful events in the past few years, educators, learning communities, families and children have shown resilience and supported each other’s mental health and wellbeing. However, the uncertainty, rapid change and accompanying feelings we might have experienced—anger, grief, loss, shame or the feeling of being overwhelmed,…
A play-framework for play-based learning and intentional teaching in early childhood education Balancing open-ended play and intentional teaching in early childhood education can be difficult. Open-ended play can appear to be at odds with intentional teaching. Open-ended play provides children with important opportunities for exploring materials and experimenting with ideas. Intentional teaching considers the role…
Books and the stories they contain have the power to connect communities and help children learn and grow values and empathy. There are hundreds of wonderful books for children written and published each year. Sometimes as educators and as parents, it can become overwhelming to figure out what books to buy or which books will…
Celebrations. To do, or not to do? Is it even that simple? Early childhood educators are often faced with ongoing internal discussions, rules, policies or expectations about how national celebrations such as Christmas and Easter are marked. In an early childhood context, celebrations such as Easter are often a reflection of our society, history, culture…
As Australia’s early learning sector continues to grow, its benefit to young children as well as to future prospects of the Australian economy are increasingly being recognised, both by the government and the general community. Despite this political and cultural shift, the early learning sector is facing a recruitment challenge—we know there is a serious…
Rolled out more than ten years ago and a key element of the National Quality Framework, the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) has had an enormous positive impact on early childhood education in Australia. The review process, which is now underway, provides a valuable opportunity for the framework to be refined in line with recent…
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…
Less doing means more listening More listening means deeper understanding Deeper understanding means authentic connections Authentic connections mean stronger relationships Stronger relationships mean deeper respect Deeper respect means genuine bonds Genuine bonds mean children being, becoming, belonging! This inspiring quote comes from second year Bachelor of Early Childhood Education students at Victoria University (VU) (Melbourne) after completing their professional placement in…