Early childhood educators, parents, carers and community leaders will gather at services around the country from 17–21 October 2022 to raise awareness and understanding of the importance of early learning and the difference the profession makes. Early Learning Matters Week is a chance to showcase how high-quality, play-based education and care supports young children to…
Dean Parkin is from the Quandamooka peoples of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) in Queensland. Dean was closely involved in the process that resulted in the historic Uluru Statement from the Heart and continues to advocate for constitutional and structural reform as Director of From the Heart. Image: From the Heart Dean will be a key…
When babies are born, they have very little ability to self-regulate. From infancy, primary caregivers—including early years educators—are invaluable in helping children to learn this skill through co-regulation. The image was sourced from iStock. Co-regulation has been described as ‘The ability to regulate through the comfort of another’3 (Leila Schott, https://thrc.ca/events/healing-circle/, April 2022) or as…
Neuroscience is not an overly familiar term or topic of conversation heard in our early childhood settings. Defined as the study of the structure and function of the human brain and nervous system, neuroscience has been a growing focus of research worldwide over the past two decades. Interestingly, weaving its way through this field of…
It was a privilege to attend the Jobs and Skills Summit in Canberra earlier this month, which hosted 142 delegates, including members of National Cabinet, the state and territory premiers and chief ministers, industry groups, unions, employers, community representatives and advocates. Over half the delegates were women and there was representation from First Nations peoples,…
Early Childhood Australia (ECA) was invited to participate in the federal government’s Jobs and Skills Summit in Canberra from 1–2 September 2022 to represent the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector. Ahead of the summit, we surveyed ECA members and the wider early childhood profession to seek people’s perspective on the most significant issues…
Child abuse and neglect reporting is challenging. No doubt about it. Challenging. The factors that make it challenging are very complex. Photo by Lizo Sonkwala on Unsplash Factors that influence professionals’ reporting practice can be personal and professional. These include things like thresholds for reporting (what child protection systems need for a report to be…