Music is a universal language—and in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, it’s also a powerful vessel for storytelling, ceremony, and connection. Introducing Aboriginal music into early learning environments not only enriches children’s understanding of Australia’s First Nations peoples but also fosters respect, curiosity, and cultural awareness from a young age.
The following is a cheat sheet for Quality Area 2. Quality Area 2 of the National Quality Standard (NQS) is the heartbeat of safe, responsive, and nurturing early childhood environments. It affirms that every child has the right to feel safe, be healthy, and thrive—physically, emotionally, and developmentally.
The New South Wales Government has unveiled a comprehensive legislative proposal aimed at overhauling the state’s childcare system. The reforms, announced in response to growing concerns over safety and regulatory oversight, are designed to strengthen protections for children and enhance accountability across early childhood education services.
A sweeping audit has revealed that a staggering number of organizations in New South Wales are failing to comply with mandatory Working with Children Checks, prompting a government crackdown and legislative reform.
Quality Area 3 of the National Quality Standard (NQS) focuses on the physical environment—its design, safety, inclusivity, and how it supports children’s learning, wellbeing, and agency. Here’s a breakdown of practical, workplace-ready examples tailored to your advocacy and leadership lens.
The following is a concise yet powerful cheat sheet for Quality Area 1: Educational Program and Practice, tailored for your advocacy and sector leadership lens. This distills the core elements, documentation strategies, and reflective prompts to support both compliance and authentic pedagogy.
These critical reflection questions invite educators to look beneath the surface. To interrogate not just what ratios are, but what they do. How they impact our ability to see every child, respond to every need, and show up as our full selves. It challenges us to name the invisible labor, the moral compromises, and the quiet grief that ratio pressures can bring—while also illuminating the courage, creativity, and collective wisdom that educators embody every day.
More than 100 children and 34 staff members at Little Feet Early Learning and Childcare in Waverly, Sydney, are undergoing tuberculosis (TB) testing after an individual who tested positive for the disease attended the centre regularly over a six-month period.
In early childhood education, trust and collaboration are foundational—not just for children, but for the adults who guide them. Yet across the sector, many educators report that unprofessional gossip among staff continues to undermine workplace culture, erode morale, and fracture team cohesion.
South Australia’s Education Minister Blair Boyer has conceded that critical reforms to the childcare sector should have been implemented earlier, following heightened public concern over child safety and regulatory oversight.
A proposed redevelopment in Avalon Beach has sparked widespread community outrage, with over 222 formal objections lodged against plans to build an early childhood service directly above a Dan Murphy’s liquor store.
Two alleged incidents of physical violence against a child at Amaze Early Education in Silkstone have prompted a formal investigation by Queensland Police. The reports, made within the past week, concern events that occurred over the last four months.
