Creating a purposeful outdoor space means more than scattering toys—it’s about crafting an environment that actively supports children’s growth. By weaving the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the National Quality Standard (NQS) into your outdoor design, you ensure every element invites meaningful exploration, skill-building, and well-being.
Young children often explore their world through touch and close contact, but rough play can lead to upset or hurt feelings. Introducing personal space and consent concepts early helps preschoolers learn boundaries, empathy, and respectful interactions.
Children asserting “boys only” or “girls only” play zones can create unfair barriers and hurt feelings. As educators, guiding young learners toward inclusive play builds empathy, respects diversity, and lays the foundation for equitable relationships.
Educators and families deserve a system that mirrors real-time quality and safety—one that responds instantly to compliance breaches or serious incidents rather than waiting years for the next review. Here’s a blueprint for transforming our current “tick-and-forget” model into a living, breathing accountability framework.
In a significant move toward strengthening child protection across Australia, the federal government has mobilized a specialist unit to assist in the rollout of a nationwide Working with Children Check (WWCC) system. This marks a pivotal step in unifying fragmented state and territory-based checks into a cohesive national register.
When a service operates without external cleaning staff, it’s reasonable to expect educators to maintain day-to-day hygiene. However, there’s a clear boundary between routine surface-level cleaning that supports children’s health and deep-cleaning or maintenance tasks that should be outsourced or allocated separately.
Teaching young children how to use their hands for kindness rather than harm is foundational to building a caring classroom culture. At ages four and five, children are still developing self-regulation and may act out physically when emotions feel overwhelming. As educators, we can guide them toward prosocial alternatives, equip them with emotional vocabulary, and partner with families to reinforce healthy touch at home.
Ensuring families feel informed and engaged is more than a compliance checkbox—it’s the foundation of true collaboration that supports each child’s learning journey. National Quality Standard (NQS) Element 1.3.3 requires services to keep families up-to-date about the educational program and their child’s progress. Simply saying “they had a great day” plus an end-of-year report falls short of this intent. Here’s how to enrich daily communication, meet compliance expectations, and foster home-to-service learning continuity.
Children don’t learn to read by starting with phonics worksheets—they begin with listening, talking, imagining, and playing. Pre-reading skills emerge organically when environments are rich in language, storytelling, and joyful exploration. These foundational abilities must be nurtured before formal reading instruction begins.
A childcare educator has been dismissed from a service in White Rock following an alleged incident involving a four-year-old boy, who was allegedly struck with a mop and sustained minor injuries. While Queensland Police concluded its investigation without laying criminal charges, the educator’s termination remains upheld by the centre.
Join the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) for an engaging panel discussion that explores how intentional teaching within play-based learning can transform outcomes for all children in early childhood education and care settings.
A 26-year-old man, David William James, has been charged with multiple offences after allegedly producing child abuse material while employed at six out-of-school hours (OOSH) care services in Sydney between April 2021 and May 2024.
