Research Around the World

Australian Early Childhood Website

I found a very interesting information in the Australian Early Childhood Website.  They have a series books about Everyday Learning Series to provide wonderful suggesstons about how to create positive environments for young children.  The books draw upon endless possibilities offered by everyday experiences.  What it called my attetion is that address not only parents, but also included grandparents and cares providing endless ideas on how to make the ordinary, extraordinatry, and by assisting them maximising yourng children's play, exploration and discovery, and discovery and development with familiar environments.

 

A media report that I also found interesting related to the wages (attached)

March – Media Release – Wages investment supports quality early learning

MEDIA ALERT
Tuesday 19 March 2013

Today’s announcement of a $300 million investment to fund wage increases for early childhood education and care workers in approved Child Care Benefit services, will help attract and keep qualified educators in the sector according to the peak children’s body Early Childhood Australia.
ECA CEO Samantha Page said the announcement was a step in the right direction towards providing strong and practical support to address inadequate wage rates in the sector.
“An essential part of providing a positive early learning experience for children is having qualified educators who can lead a play based curriculum that supports children in their learning and improving educational outcomes.
“But without sufficient wage increases it is difficult for services to attract qualified educators.”
Ms Page said improving the qualifications of educators in early childhood education and care services was a crucial aspect of the early years quality framework introduced just over a year ago.
“We commend the Federal Government’s commitment to National Quality Reforms and welcome this response to the sector’s concerns about workforce issues.
“The benefits to children of good quality education and care in their early years cannot be overstated: they are immediate and lifelong.
“There is broad consensus within the sector on the importance of the reforms but there is a cost involved and this needs to be addresses through government funding - nobody wants to pass that
cost on to families.
“Today’s announcement will provide support for some services to deliver the early learning experiences that children deserve.
“More work will need to be done to address wages and conditions for others within in the sector not covered by this initiative including out of school hours care, preschools and other services.
Ms Page said the sector needed a commitment from the government to long-term investment in wage increases which are available to all services providing early and middle childhood education and care across Australia.
“We would support a gender equity case to Fair Work Australia to secure better wage rates for everyone working with young children - our most important asset.
“The funding announced today is a good first step but it is not sustainable. Locking in sufficient wages for workers into the future will require further investment.”