More than 129 teachers from K to Year 3 attended the union Early Childhood Educators' Conference on Friday 18th November, to participate in workshops and hear speakers discuss the changes, challenges and issues facing early Childhood Educators. Freda Ogilvie, the Manager of Aboriginal Education in Albany, opened the proceedings with a wonderful Welcome to Country.
The SSTUWA Early Childhood Conference, held on Friday November 18, at the SSTUWA in East Perth was an outstanding success. Early childhood educators from around the state attended the conference which was subtitled “It’s More Than Just What to Teach” and focused on best practice and the latest developments in the crucial field of Early Childhood Education.
Play based learning is the philosophy behind the Early Learning Years Framework (ELYF) supported by the principles and rights of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of a Child. The ELYF document, describes the principles, practices and learning outcomes that are crucial to enhance a child’s learning from birth to 5 years of age.
Read more: Early Childhood Forum: More Than Just What to Teach
For many years the AEU has despaired at the inequality between the availability of four year old education and the differences across the nation. With the unfolding of the Universal Access, we are pleased to say that kindergarten (or pre-school in other states) will now be available to all four year old children.
National Quality Framework for Early Childhood and Care. Principals and Early Childhood teachers need to be aware of the pending changes for education and care centres which cater for children 0-5 years. Although there are differences in ECE within states and territories, the national funding partnership requirements will embed the national agenda in all ECE settings including schools.
Representations by our Union have assisted in bringing about additional resources to support this testing. Even so, general feedback indicates that there are still issues in schools on this matter. Members undertaking on-entry testing should be aware that resourcing of $35 per student has gone to schools to assist with release to undertake the testing. Feedback from schools indicates that this still is insufficient to cover full costs.
Last Friday the SSTUWA held the follow-up ECE forum to the highly successful one in May, “The Way Forward for Early Childhood”. Working around the theme: “Belonging, Being and Becoming... The Place for Play in the Early Years’ Learning Framework.” The 140 participants were able to listen to listen to reports and views from Professor Carmel Maloney (ECU) as well as teachers and union members.
I recently attended the National Meeting of The AEU Early Childhood Committee (25th May) in Melbourne. The main focus of the discussions was the proposed Universal Access. This being the federal Governments commitment to provide all kindergarten aged children with an education program delivered by a university trained early Childhood teacher and for 15 hours per week by 2013.
Read more: Notes from the National Early Childhood Committee Meeting
Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Guidelines for Early Childhood Settings Project. The Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Guidelines for Early Childhood Settings, or the ‘Guidelines’, are part of the Commonwealth Government’s plan for tackling obesity from early childhood.
The Early Childhood Reference Group met recently to have some discussion about the current status and issues concerning Early Childhood Education. There are many matters of concern that have been identified and one of our goals is to broaden our engagement with educators working in this sector, so that pertinent issues can be addressed. If you are an Early Childhood Educator we would welcome you to come along, or participate via the teleconference.Page 1 of 2
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