Written by Zid Mancenido, Senior Manager, Research and Evaluation and Amie Fabry, Senior Researcher at the Australian Education Research Organisation. Hensman Street Elementary in Perth is looking into research on play and inquiry. ‘Our observations, videos, photographs and records tell us how our children are engaging in learning and interacting with peers, the environment and our…
Image by David Foster. Courtesy of Australian Geographic, 2016. ECA recently had a conversation with two members of the ECA Reconciliation Action Group, Jo Goodwin and Adam Duncan, to talk about Australia Day and the ongoing work undertaken to help children and early childhood educators understand the many complexities around 26 January. ECA: Jo and…
We are in the midst of a paradigm-revolution in the science of early child development. To speak of a ‘paradigm-revolution’ signifies that we are not dealing with yet another ‘shift’ in the behaviourist-cognitive pendulum, or yet another method for managing difficult children. Instead, we are presented with a new understanding of the meaning of a…
Women scientists have played a large part in researching the COVID-19 virus and in testing and developing the vaccine to combat it. Their efforts have been recognised in the theme of this year’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science: ‘Women scientists at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19’. Each year the global…
As educators, we talk about fostering a sense of belonging and identity within our services and communities—one way we do this is through the use of photo displays. Reflecting on this in relation to how we display images of ourselves, our educator teams, and the children and families within the service, I wonder what impact…
Each year hundreds of Australians receive Australia Day Honours for the outstanding service and contributions they make to everyday life in Australia. This year, three notable Australians, The Honourable Jay Weatherill, Megan Mitchell and Professor Lester-Irabinna Rigney, were honoured for their contributions to early childhood education. The Honourable Jay Weatherill, AO, received his Officer of…
With the widespread acceptance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the land comes the simple proposition that we must change the date—the 26th of January is not an inclusive day of celebration for all Australians. And yet the controversy rages. There are many different views around the date of…
Every year on the 26th of January we celebrate what it means to be Australian. It’s a day when we welcome new Australians into the fold through Citizenship ceremonies and we get together for barbecues, that most inexplicably Australian of meals. We mark the day in a myriad of ways and yet we continue to…
We have heard so many times in the last year that we are experiencing unprecedented times, and indeed we are. This quote from Monbiot (2017, p. 1), highlighted in the concluding chapter of Claire Cameron and Peter Moss’s new book, aptly outlines the situation: The old world, which once looked stable, even immutable, is collapsing.…
Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started pulling their children out of childcare due to the pandemic, especially casuals not eligible for JobKeeper. And when the federal government introduced its temporary free childcare package, centres struggled to get the…