A three years old girl who had been found unconscious on a bus, on Wednesday 4th May, parked outside an early childhood service, in Gracemere, near Rockhampton, in Queensland is now breathing on her own.

The way early childhood education and care is provisioned by the government at local, state and national levels deeply impacts society. Issues range from sector-specific matters like childcare regulations, subsidies and fees to wider dynamics of social equity, workforce participation, children’s development, gender equality and response to global crises like COVID 19 pandemic. In the lead up to the Federal Election on 21 May 2022, here is a breakdown of the position of three major political parties – the Liberal/National Coalition, the Australian Labor Party and The Greens - on policy decisions crucial to early childhood care and education sector.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Australia is a free book gifting program. Each month children who are registered will receive free age-appropriate books till the age of five years old.

Early Education Service providers are suffering from the ample shortage of childcare staff. It has been said that there are more than 6000 job vacancies across the country as of March.

Victoria’s first pilot program is called Children’s University. The program is organised by Swinburne University The special focus has been given to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The aim of this program is to help and support those students who want to continue further studies based on STEM. This program also aims to make the goal of the students more accessible by making them prepared with the different and various knowledge of STEM and also helps to improve the educational outcomes. 

Two siblings had been expelled from their day-care centre after their parents complained about the horrendous conditions of the service to the Department Of Education.

Early childhood experts are calling for early learning services to be assessed under the National Quality Standards Framework every three years to increase the quality of early childhood education. It has been reported that the rating system which is used to determine the quality of services is not being properly maintained and reports have shown some centres are waiting between 5 - 7 years between assessments. 

It is very true and often happens to almost every parent that they have to put so much energy and physical strength to raise a child that often they feel there is nothing more left to give and feel exhausted. And exactly at that moment of time Cocomelon, the famous youtube rhyming channel comes into the picture. It holds the child for half hr or so and distracts them from the world around them which gives the parents an opportunity to have sanity on their own. But are these harming your children? Is it the cause of speech delay and is it the reason for tantrums that your child is showing and developing recently?

National Quality Framework (NQF) presented the Annual Performance Report, 2021 on behalf of the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA). This report shows the impact of covid-19, on children’s health and safety, educational programs and practice, the effect on children from disadvantageous and vulnerable backgrounds, and how the workforce is working with intention of the well-being of children and with the public awareness of service quality.

On Tuesday, May 3, Educators are invited to a free webinar, hosted by Narragunnawali, that will unpack the 2022 National Reconciliation Week (NRW) theme, “Be Brave. Make Change.” The webinar will explore ways Educators incorporate reconciliation and share some practical ideas for learning about and celebrating the theme in early childhood services.