If an employee is frequently calling in sick, balance empathy with accountability. Support them by exploring underlying causes, offering flexible arrangements, and connecting them to resources, while also protecting team morale by redistributing workload fairly and setting clear expectations.
In early childhood education, staff wellbeing is critical, but frequent sick leave can create real challenges. Absences affect ratios, compliance, and team morale, often leaving colleagues stretched thin. Leaders must balance compassion for the individual with fairness to the team.
The Australian Government is rolling out unannounced spot checks across Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services nationwide. This follows a successful pilot in October–November 2025. The program is designed to strengthen compliance, lift standards, and give families confidence that services are safe, high-quality, and correctly administering the Child Care Subsidy (CCS).
Unfair dismissal can feel overwhelming, but knowing the process helps you take action with confidence. The Fair Work Commission (FWC) is the national workplace relations tribunal that deals with these claims. Here’s a clear roadmap.
Daily experience Journals are a cornerstone of communication between educators and families. They provide parents with a snapshot of what their children explored, learned, and enjoyed during the day. Yet, when working with a whole group, efficiency and clarity become essential.
In late 2024, the Australian Government announced a 15% wage increase for early childhood educators. The so‑called “15% grant” is actually a government‑funded wage subsidy that delivers a 15% pay rise for early childhood educators. Services must apply for the funding, agree to fee‑cap conditions, and pass the increase directly to staff. Once the grant period ends, services lose the subsidy and must sustain wages through normal operations.
Resigning from a role in early childhood education is a natural part of career progression. Whether you’re moving on to new opportunities, prioritising wellbeing, or navigating personal changes, it’s important to resign with clarity, professionalism, and dignity. This guide outlines notice periods, signs it may be time to leave, what to say, how to write a resignation letter, and strategies for managing difficult situations.
Caring for and teaching children is some of the most important work in the country. For decades, early childhood educators have carried this responsibility without fair recognition in their pay. The federal government’s announcement of a 15% increase was heralded as a “historic pay rise.” But in reality, this measure is a temporary grant, not a permanent reform.
Early childhood educators are being unfairly targeted by fear-driven narratives and reactive policy changes, despite evidence showing they are among the safest and most dedicated professionals in the education system.
Early childhood education is facing a crisis that cannot be solved with more training modules or compliance checklists. Educators are not leaving because they lack skills or passion. They are leaving because they are being treated as expendable, micromanaged to exhaustion, and denied the respect they deserve as professionals and as people.
The 10 Free Santa Beard Cutting printables are a simple yet powerful activity designed to help children practice their cutting skills. By trimming Santa’s beard along different types of lines, children engage in a playful, festive task that builds essential developmental skills.
Our early childhood sector is facing a troubling paradox. On one hand, thousands of students are enrolling in Certificate III programs, eager to join the workforce. On the other hand, services are reporting that these trainees arrive on placement underprepared, leaving educators overwhelmed and children underserved. This mismatch between training and practice is not just frustrating—it’s unsustainable.
The recent announcement by Minister for Education Jason Clare that childcare centres will receive funding to close early for mandatory child safety training. But let’s be clear—child protection training is not new. Educators already undertake annual courses and ongoing professional development throughout the year. You cannot work in this industry without it. Training is essential, but it is not where the real problems begin.
Child protection courses are already mandatory. The real crisis?
Too many children per educator
Understaffed centres
Lack of inclusion support for children with disabilities
Until ratios drop and staffing rises, training alone won’t fix child safety.
In the quiet hum of a weekday morning, something felt off. Preschool doors opened, but classrooms remained silent. No greetings. No redirection. No educators. And suddenly, the world felt the consequences.
This wasn’t a strike. It was a reckoning.
Early childhood educators, those often dismissed as “just babysitters,” didn’t show up. Not because they didn’t care, but because the system stopped caring first. Their passion had been trivialized. Their safety was compromised. Their pay was insulting. And when they stepped back, everything else fell apart.
In early childhood education, numbers matter. Ratios often dominate policy debates, but group size, the total number of children in a room, can be just as critical. As policymakers revisit standards, group size caps are emerging as a safeguard for quality care, protecting both children’s developmental needs and educators’ well-being.
