Rattler sees advocacy in action at Amarina Early Learning Centre in Airds, a disadvantaged south-western suburb of Sydney on the cusp of rapid change. The service is operated by Campbelltown City Council—a local government that understands how early education can transform communities and children’s futures. Ingrid Maack reports. Continue Reading →
We’ve been playing a little game in the office called Where in the World is Tony Abbott? It’s a little bit like the geography game played as children—Where in the World is Carmen San Diego—but far less educational, instructive and, well, productive. Continue Reading →
The latest issue of Rattler magazine for Community Child Care Co-operative (NSW) has hit the desks of early childhood education and care educators and advocates and, as usual, is full of inspiring, informative and thought provoking articles to stimulate professional development in the sector.
Rattler had a front-row seat as more than 200 members turned out at the Sydney Masonic Centre to hear Kate Ellis, Minister for Early Childhood and Childcare, and Adrian Piccoli, NSW Minister for Education, tackle the sector’s hottest topics.
Rattler talks to a DEC preschool, a community-based service and private long day care centre about the long and winding road to quality improvement. By Ingrid Maack.
The past three years has been an era of rapid change and reflection with children’s services using the reform agenda as a road map to raise quality and drive continuous improvement. Even while still in its draft form, many services began engaging with the National Quality Framework (NQF)—turning the mirror inwards, so to speak, and sparking a spirit of self-study and reflection that is effectively reshaping the sector.
In a female-dominated profession known for employing women in their childbearing years, family-friendly staffing arrangements are a priority at the University of New South Wales’ three long day care centres—Kanga’s House, The House at Pooh Corner and Tigger’s Honeypot.
Jemma Carlisle, general manager of Early Years@UNSW University Services, says educators at the recently amalgamated group of UNSW services are offered flexible work arrangements including 36-weeks paid maternity leave (for staff employed for fives years or more) and 26 weeks for staff employed for less than five years.
Have NSW regulators succeeded in preserving our state’s higher standards for early childhood education and care services and how do children in other states and territories fare? Lisa Bryant lifts the lid on the new National Regulations.
The dominant belief in NSW has long been that the requirements demanded of NSW services were higher than those demanded of early education and care services in other states. The requirement for qualified early childhood teachers in all centre-based services bigger than 29 places, for example, is often cited as the best example of why we needed to ensure that NSW did not lose out when national regulations were framed.
When it comes to pay packets, not all teachers are equal. Suzanne Kowalski-Roth from the NSW/ACT Independent Education Union (IEU), explores this much-needed campaign, and outlines why pay parity needn’t be a utopian daydream.
In a utopian Australia, young children would be valued by our society, and the role of early childhood teachers in nurturing and educating children would be truly understood, articulated and affirmed.
Corporatised institutions have a stronger presence in most areas of everyday life in Australia. With the privatisation of many government services over the past decade, is there a place for corporate competitiveness and profit motivations in children’s services? Eddy Jokovich looks at the key issues in the political debate about corporatising childcare and why community-based services need to be concerned. Continue Reading →
