Council Meetings are a forum for members to raise issues, suggest areas for advocacy and contribute to discussions. We invite you to come along and have your say.

Email invitations are sent out to all members prior to Council Meetings. Members wishing to attend should RSVP to the administration officer by return email or by calling 02 9557 3113.

NSW Branch

Early Childhood Australia NSW will advocate to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years.

The NSW Branch is involved in many committees and activities to achieve this end. They include:

• Professional Experience Council
• NSW Health and Safety Committee
• Department of Education and Training Early Childhood Reference Group
• Department of Community Services Peak Review
• Department of Community Services Preschool Investment & Reform Plan Working Group
• NIFTeY NSW
• NSW Childcare Industry Liaison Forum
• NSW Children's Services Forum

Branch News

NSW Branch newsletter, Issue 4, August 2008 (PDF, 123KB)

NSW Branch newsletter, Issue 3, July 2008 (PDF, 123KB)

NSW Branch newsletter, Issue 2, May 2008 (PDF, 172KB)

NSW Branch newsletter, Issue 1, February 2008 (PDF, 144KB)

NSW Branch newsletter, Issue 5, October 2007 (PDF, 100KB)

As a member of the NSW Branch you will receive regular newsletter updates. Here are some excerpts from NSW Branch newsletters:

Big Steps in Childcare campaign

The Honourable Julia Gillard, Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion launched the LHMU Big Steps in Childcare Campaign in Sydney on 20th June. For a copy of her speech see http://mediacentre.dewr.gov.au/mediacentre/gillard/releases/lhmubigstepsinchildcarecampaign.htm.

Julia outlined the LHMU's campaign to address the many challenges in the early childhood workforce such as staff shortages and low pay and status. She also outlined the Federal government's commitment to provide funding to:

• Remove TAFE fees for childcare diplomas and advanced diplomas from 2009.
• Create 500 additional university early childhood places in 2009, rising to 1500 places by 2011.
• Reduce up to half of the HECS-HELP debts of early childhood teachers who work in regional and remote areas, Indigenous communities and areas of high disadvantage.

Early Childhood Australia is a partner with the LHMU in Big Steps in Childcare. This campaign aims to gain increased recognition for child care workers' skills and support for existing early childhood staff to increase their qualifications to a Certificate III, Diploma or Degree. For more information see http://www.lhmu.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=665.

Read Margaret Young's speech: LHMU's Big Steps in Childcare campaign - June 2008

'1:4 Make it Law!' campaign

On Tuesday 26 June, ECA and other organisations were invited to attend a forum held by the members of the 1:4 Cross Sectoral Task Force that put the majority view in the Report on the implementation of a 1:4 staff-child ratio for children aged under two years in NSW children's services. You may remember that the then Minister, Reba Meagher, did not action any of the recommendations in the report, due mostly to the lack of solidarity amongst all the members of the taskforce.

Members of the Task Force who held a majority view included:

• Bernadette Dunn (Community Child Care Co-operative NSW)
• Judy Kynaston (Country Children's Services Association)
• Tonia Godhard (Early Childhood Australia NSW)
• Prue Warrilow (National Association of Community Based Children's Services).

A dissenting minority report was submitted from:

• David Wilson and Ian Weston (Child Care NSW)

You can read the full report and the arguments put forward by both the majority and the minority on the DoCS website:
Report on the implementation of a 1:4 staff-child ratio for children aged under two years in NSW children's services (PDF, 1.5MB)

As ECA NSW is committed to this improved staff to child ratio, we are joining forces with the other organisations present at the above meeting to re-launch a campaign to improve the staff to child ratios for children under two years of age in NSW.

In the coming months a major campaign will be rolled out – please get involved! Community Child Care Co-op has been working on the development of a '1:4 Make it Law!' website. You can view it at http://www.ccccnsw.org.au/ratios/

NSW Institute of Teachers

You will know from our previous newsletter items that the establishment of the NSW Institute of Teachers (NSWIT) as the professional registration body for teachers in NSW is to exclude early childhood teachers who do not work in registered schools. This is because the Act covering the operations of the NSWIT does not include teachers who work outside of registered schools. This means that early childhood teachers working in prior to school settings like preschools and long day care settings will not be eligible for registration as professional teachers in NSW.

Earlier this year ECA NSW held an Issues Forum to discuss the matter of registration and the further implications that this initiative will have on the recognition of early childhood teacher training courses that cover the years birth to eight. At this forum members urged ECA NSW to continue to lobby for the inclusion of all early childhood teachers in the process of professional registration and to advocate for the recognition by the NSW IT of existing birth to eight years early childhood teacher education courses.

As a result of this action ECA NSW was invited to attend a meeting initiated by the NSWIT to discuss the complexities of registration and the recognition of early childhood professional teachers. While there has been little progress on the registration of early childhood teachers in other than registered school settings we appear to have had some success in promoting a re-thinking of the requirements for early childhood teacher education programs. As the Act is clearly limited to teachers in registered schools, early childhood teachers will need to continue to lobby for a change to the Institute of Teachers Act to expand the criteria for and the definition of a professional teacher.

In relation to the recognition of early childhood teacher education courses, discussions are on-going to try and find a suitable solution to meeting the requirements for course content for school based teachers while maintaining the essential aspects of early childhood teacher preparation in the areas of birth to school age education. ECA NSW will continue to lobby for the professional recognition of early childhood teachers and will keep you informed of further action.