On 21 September, the newly appointed Minister for Education, the Hon Dan Tehan MP, attended and spoke at the ECA National Conference in Sydney. Senior ECA representatives met with Mr Tehan at the conference, and we will continue to engage with him over the coming months to ensure that early childhood education stays firmly on the Federal Government’s agenda. This will become increasingly important in the lead-up to the federal election.

On the topic of federal elections, on 4 October, the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, announced the Australian Labour Party’s (ALP) election policy on preschool, with a commitment to lock-in ongoing funding for 15 hours of subsidised preschool for four-year-olds and extend the commitment to include three-year-olds by 2021. The announcement also included $100 million to support the rollout of the program, including workforce development and expanded capacity, and a commitment to restore the $20 million of funding taken from the National Quality Framework (NQF) Agreement in the last federal budget.

The announcement was warmly welcomed across the sector, though it’s important to acknowledge that there is still work to be done on implementation should the ALP be elected into government. It’s also of note that while restoring the $20 million of funding to the NQF is welcome, prior to the funding being cut, states and territories were about to commence discussions about significantly increasing the funding allocated to the regulation of the early education sector—a discussion which would hopefully have strengthened the regulatory framework for services and families.

It is heartening to see that state and territory governments—with the ACT and South Australia moving first—are beginning to sign onto the 2019 National Partnership Agreement with the Federal Government. This agreement supports preschool in the year before school. At present, funding is only available until the end of the 2019 school year and ECA has repeatedly called for the funding is to be secured over the longer-term. We would also encourage the Federal Government to match the ALP’s commitment to preschool for three-year-olds in the lead-up to the federal election.

At this year’s ECA National Conference, ECA launched the Statement on young children and digital technologies. The statement was developed over a two-year period in consultation with the sector and under the guidance of the ECA Digital Policy Group. It provides an evidence base from which educators can make informed decisions about the use of digital technologies with, by and for young children.

The statement provides an overview of existing research about young children and digital technologies across four known areas of importance in early childhood education: Relationships; Health and wellbeing; Citizenship; and Play and pedagogy. Each of these areas is accompanied by a guiding principle and ‘practice advice’, which is intended to facilitate professional reflection on the role and optimal use of digital technologies according to the digital contexts in which children, their families and educators play, work and live. Educators can also access a summary version of the statement, which serves as a handy reminder about the questions to consider when working with young children and digital technologies.

Communications

The ECA Communications Team was busy promoting the 2018 ECA National Conference, which was held in Sydney from 19 to 22 September. The event was a huge success, thanks to a great behind-the-scenes team and the ongoing support of all our members. The Communications Team would also like to congratulate all the 2018 ECA National Conference award winners.

Some of our highlights for the quarter include:

• The most popular blogs featured on ECA’s The Spoke included: Reflective practice: Making a commitment to ongoing learning by Dr Anne Kennedy; Extending learning—More than activities by Anne Stonehouse; and Themes vs projects: Spot the difference by Kate Hodgekiss.
• By far the most popular Facebook infographics were 8 ways to take care of yourself and A child’s right to play.
• We celebrated National Children’s Week—promoting the core message that every child has the right to have a say in matters that affect them, and to have their views and opinions to be taken seriously. See the poster here.
• We farewelled outgoing ECA National President Ros Cornish, thanking her for all she has done for young children and early childhood educators, and we welcome Chris Legg as our new National President.
• For International Children’s Day, ECA wore #BlueforNauru because every child has the right to a safe environment, care and protection as well as education and play.

We are always seeking new and engaging content from our members about educational practice with young children and families. Please let us know if you have a blog or video you would like featured on our social media platforms.

Media

This quarter, ECA doubled its media coverage, receiving mentions in 544 press and online stories and 567 broadcast items that reached 56 million views.

During September, we attracted good media coverage of the ECA National Conference, and successfully placed stories in Fairfax publications on the ECA Statement on young children and digital technologies.

Some media highlights over the quarter included:

• • A Sun Herald story on managing kids’ screen time ran in more than 100 Fairfax papers nationally.
  • A story in the Sydney Morning Herald about how fathers can support play featured an interview with ECA conference keynote speaker, Professor Paul Ramchandani. Both of these articles reached more than four million readers.
  • We had great interviews with Professor Ramchandani and Dr Stuart Shanker on ABC Radio National programs LifeMatters and RN Drive.

• Kinderling Conversation featured interviews with Dr Shanker and Dr Cindy Blackstock, and ran a great podcast on the Statement on young children and digital technologies.
• The ALP’s big announcement on 4 October of their pre-election promise to fund two years of preschool prompted a media frenzy, with high demand for ECA CEO Sam Page to provide context and response. Sam did back-to-back interviews on ABC and commercial radio; TV studio interviews for ABC News 24 and Sky; TV grabs for ABC, SBS and Channel 7 at Parliament House, Canberra; and an interview with Channel 10’s The Project at MOCCA childcare centre in Canberra.
• ECA was mentioned in many media stories covering the launch of the new ‘Be You’ mental health in education initiative on Thursday 1 November.
• ECA WA spokesperson Sandra Hesterman was quoted in WA media and press stories about the Department of Education WA’s new priority to focus on play-based learning in the early childhood curricula. ECA WA President Pauline Roberts was also interviewed about this topic on ABC WA radio news on 25 November.
• ECA Tasmania’s collaboration with the Tasmanian government on the delivery of preschool programs for three-year-olds in targeted early childhood education services received coverage in Tasmanian newspapers and radio during November.

See our media releases here: www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/media

Marketing

ECA would like to extend a warm thank you to all those who visited the ECA stand at the National Conference in September; it was great to see you there. The stand was abuzz with activity and we had a record-breaking year for sales. Popular products included:

• Ethics in Action: A practical guide to implementing the ECA Code of Ethics by Dr Lennie Barblett, Catharine Hydon and Dr Anne Kennedy (140 copies sold)
• Box of provocations by Anne Stonehouse AM (140 units sold)
• children’s books including You, Me and Empathy and No Means No!
• the 2019 Early Years Daily Planner.

In its first year of publication, the 2019 Early Years Weekly Planner has sold out and the 2019 Early Years Daily Planner is selling well. If you want to get a head start on 2019 and haven’t secured your copy yet, click here. The planners were produced in collaboration with ECA and feature early years learning tips linked to the Early Years Learning Framework and the National Quality Standard, which are aimed at supporting educators in their profession. ECA members receive a discount on this best-selling resource.

The first year at school is an important transition for children, families and educators. Leading into 2019, we are promoting our resource, First year at school: Essential tips for parents and carers, by Jenni Connor and Pam Linke. We are targeting primary schools, principals and P&C associations across Australia, and are advertising the resource in a parents’ supplement, ‘Parents Guide for Up to 5’ in the West Australian newspaper. The First year at school: Essential tips for parents and carers aims to inform and support children, educators and families through one of the most important years of a child’s life.

The ECA Publications and Studio Team spent the first month of this past quarter completing all the 2018 ECA National Conference materials and publications that were launched at the conference. These included the 2017–2018 ECA Annual Report, the Statement on young children and digital technologies, the ECA Learning Hub Catalogue and the ECA Leadership Program Brochure.

In the months of October and November ECA Studio focused on finalising our latest ECA titles:

• Everyday Learning Series—Learning to read by Dr Jane Torr (Vol. 16 No. 3 2018)
• Every Childmagazine (Vol. 24 No. 3 2018).
• Research in Practice Series—Acceptance, justice and equality: Exploring reconciliation in early childhood education and care by Catharine Hydon and Adam Duncan (Vol. 25 No. 3 2018).
• Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (Vol. 43 No. 3 2018).
• To help support your professional learning, ensure you don’t miss out on receiving each issue of ECA’s core publications, all of which are available through publication subscriptions. Each title is published four times per year, with discounted prices for ECA members. Subscribe today with a one-, two- or three-year subscription.

Did you know? ECA’s Research in Practice Series provides practical, easy-to-read, up-to-date information and support for early childhood educators. The books bring together the best information available on wide-ranging topics, and are an ideal resource for children’s services, educators and others interested in the care and education of young children. To find out more about the series, click here.

Did you know? ECA’s Everyday Learning Series is aimed at early childhood educators, students of early education, beginning practitioners, parents, grandparents and carers. This series provides wonderful suggestions about how to create positive learning environments for young children, by ‘making the ordinary extraordinary’. To find out more about the series, click here.

To make sure you don’t miss out, subscribe to ECA publications today and save on upcoming titles!

Spring has sprung for the National Education Initiative. On 1 November 2018, KidsMatter Early Childhood became ‘Be You’. There has been an incredible amount of activity leading us into this new and exciting chapter of the initiative.

What is Be You?

Be You is a single, integrated national initiative to promote mental health from the early years through to age 18. It’s for every Australian educator from early learning services through to secondary schools, including future educators. Be You is led by Beyond Blue with implementation partners Early Childhood Australia and headspace, and is funded by the Australian Government.

Be You’s vision is that every learning community is positive, inclusive and resilient—a place where every child, young person, educator and family can achieve their best possible mental health through promotion, prevention and early intervention. Building on the work of KidsMatter Early Childhood, Be You is growing a mentally healthy generation.

We’ve been out-and-about … and online

The Be You team attended the ECA National Conference in Sydney and were on hand to answer questions about professional learning, participation and the changes on the horizon.

Over the quarter, we hosted events aimed at helping educators get started with their KidsMatter professional learning, and delivering opportunities for educators to learn and network nationally. These events will be continuing under the Be You banner.

The Be You In Focus webinar Diversity matters for mental health took place on Friday 7 December. Watch the full video here.

Keeping early childhood a priority

The important work of supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children hasn’t stopped with the transition of KidsMatter into Be You. ECA is continuing our commitment to the importance of early childhood and ensuring our youngest children and those who are dedicated to their learning, development and wellbeing are supported and have a voice.

Have you registered?

Currently there are over 1700 services participating in Be You nationally. To join, register online. You can then attend a Be You Essentials event and begin implementing Be You in your setting. If you are already participating in the program, why not attend a National Check-In, where you can chat with a Be You consultant and network with other educators from across Australia.

 

ECA Learning Hub offers a comprehensive range of online professional learning programs and resources, aimed at providing all early childhood educators and carers with an effective and flexible way to extend their knowledge and improve their practice.

What’s new From ECA Learning Hub?

Understanding sleep and safe sleep practices in early childhood education and care

Cost: $120 for the three-part package

Available as a part of an ECA Learning Hub subscription.

Developed by ECA and the Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), and with support from the Ian Potter Foundation, this professional learning package contains three comprehensive and highly practical online learning modules which examine the importance of sleep to infant and child health, wellbeing, learning and development in line with the introduction of safe sleep and rest practices (ACECQA, 2017). 

This learning package is available as part of an ECA Learning Hub subscription for a limited time—annual subscription-holders can have this course assigned to their account.

Professionalism, paperwork and pedagogy: Leading professional practice in long day care

Cost: Free

Available as a part of an ECA Learning Hub subscription.

This on-demand webinar is a panel discussion providing an opportunity to learn what leadership approaches and strategies enable professional practice in long day care settings.

After completing this webinar, participants will have an understanding of:

• what the term ‘professional practice’ means to you
• how centres enable professional practice
• the difference enabling leadership makes
• how to enable professional practice.

Coming soon

Interactive Learning Module—Music in early childhood

Cost: $38.50

Available as a part of an ECA Learning Hub subscription.

Music has long been regarded as an important part of early childhood education. In this module, participants can learn how to explore music as an integral and vibrant part of a child’s family, community and culture, and how it can be utilised as a powerful tool for learning and development. For young children, music can be a way of:

• connecting with others
• expressing themselves, and
• exploring and making meaning through their senses.

This module also aims to improve educators’ knowledge of and confidence with music.

On-demand webinars

The Planning Cycle: Rediscovered

Cost: $25.00

Available as a part of an ECA Learning Hub subscription.

Rod Soper presents this inspiring rediscovery of the Planning Cycle and challenges us to consider how we can use the Planning Cycle to reinvigorate not only our thinking, but how we approach children’s learning and development. The webinar also addresses common misconceptions and mistakes we make when using the Planning Cycle improperly, and how we can foster strong analytical thinking skills within teams.

Playing with gratitude

Cost: Free.

Brought to you by MyLife MySuper. 

Rod Soper explores the development, implementation and findings of the Playing with Gratitude Project and the role of mental health in children’s learning and development.

Gratitude is a social–emotional process that results in a sense of happiness, joy, or appreciation due to receiving something based not on one’s own efforts but rather on the giver’s free and unrestricted intentions to give.

The Playing with Gratitude Project believes the best early start in life will result in a future of achievable possibilities. The foundations of these possibilities are a child’s right to play and the transformational learning experienced through co-play.

The aim of the Playing with Gratitude Project is to examine the science of gratitude and combine it with the powerful influence of co-play in order to make a positive change in the wellbeing of children, birth to five.

Interested in an annual ECA Learning Hub subscription?

Annual subscriptions are available for individuals, services or organisations, and provide ongoing access to all our learning modules and webinars. If you would like to purchase an annual subscription, visit the ECA Learning Hub website or email learninghub@earlychildhood.org.au for a tailored quote.

Cost: Individual annual subscriptions start at $320.00 (ECA members) and $390.00 (non-members).

ECA Learning Hub Project Work

NSW OSHC Quality Development Program

The ECA Learning Hub is pleased to be delivering a comprehensive collection of free online professional learning for NSW Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services, under the NSW Department of Education’s OSHC Quality Development Program (OSHC QDP).

The OSHC QD is a targeted program funded by the NSW Department of Education. It is designed to support quality improvement in the OSHC sector in NSW. The program focuses on building the knowledge and capability of educators and service leaders in OSHC services operating under the National Quality Framework (NQF), by providing access to free online professional learning tailor-designed to meet the unique needs of the NSW OSHC services.

The OSHC QDP will include a dedicated website as well as a number of interactive learning modules, recorded webinars and video presentations covering targeted support areas from across the NQF. It will be rolled out between November 2018 and March 2019.

Find out more at www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/nsw-oshc.

The campaign focus is now on how to draw on the success of Early Learning Matters Week to maximise impact in the lead-up to the 2019 federal election. The release of  Federal Labor’s preschool policy on October 4, to extend federal funding to cover two years before starting school sparked strong commentary on our Twitter feed and Facebook page. See campaign analysis in this blog; or check out some of the key media articles.

Online activity jumped in October, mostly due to responses to posts about the ALP’s preschool policy, and the popularity of our reposted Children’s Rights posters developed for Children’s Week.

The average monthly reach of Facebook posts was 135 000—with up to 163 000 in October. Engagement was about 6300 likes, shares, etc, per month, with up to 8300 in October.

Join the Early Learning: Everyone Benefits campaign to show your support and receive campaign news and updates. Visit www.everyonebenefits.org.au/getinvolved

2019 AJEC Research Symposium

The 2019 AJEC Research Symposium Multiplicity: Exploring multiple perspectives, agendas and methodologies in early childhood research will be held in Melbourne on 14–15 February 2019, in partnership with the Australian Catholic University (ACU) and La Trobe University. The objective of the symposium is to encourage childhood practitioners, researchers, academics and students to share innovative research methodologies and findings through cutting-edge partnerships and collaborations, and to strengthen the research networks in Australasia and beyond.

Registrations are now open, click here for more information.

2019 ECA Reconciliation Symposium

As part of our ongoing commitment to acknowledging reconciliation in the early years, ECA will be hosting the Reconciliation Symposium at Moonee Valley Racing Club in Melbourne on 10–11 May 2019.

Attendees at the ECA Reconciliation Symposium will learn about a culture dating back more than 40 000 years, and facilitated table discussions will lead to an atmosphere of dialogue, understanding and engagement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants.

The format of the two-day symposium will be highly interactive. For those participants who attended last year’s event, there will be updates from various speakers plus new presenters and ideas to build on the journey and continue our exploration of reconciliation within the sector. For more information or to register, click here.

2019 Early Childhood Australia National Conference

From vision to action is the theme for ECA’s 2019 National Conference, which will be held in Hobart, Tasmania, on 25–28 September next year. The 2019 conference will expand on ECA’s strategic priorities to progress its vision of ‘Every young child is thriving and learning’.

This conference will explore current and emerging practice to enhance young children’s experiences across the spectrum of service and education settings they attend. This includes early childhood education and care as well as the early years of school, outside school hours care and child/parent programs such as playgroups and family centres. The conference will engage participants in a discourse on rights, wellbeing and quality improvement to facilitate deep reflective thinking and enhance ongoing professional learning and development.

Presenting at the conference

If you or one of your colleagues wish to present at the 2019 ECA National Conference, you will need to identify which of the five areas of inquiry your presentation most directly contributes to. Applications to present are now OPEN.

Australian Capital Territory

ECA ACT invited members and sector leaders to a strategic planning evening in order to strengthen our commitment to advocating for children, families and educators across the ACT and region.

Todd Wright from Threesides Marketing facilitated the session, and we would like to thank Amanda Tobler from Children’s First Alliance; Julia Ham from NSW, Riverina Branch; Greg Mowle from ECA National Office; ECA members Lisa Syrette and Stacey Hodgson and our committee members for their extremely valuable insight and direction.

Commitments for further consultation and development in alignment with ECA’s Strategic Priorities include:

• Position ECA ACT for long-term success through regional partnerships, awareness campaigns, communication with members, member scholarships.
• Champion quality in early education by supporting partnerships to recognise and reward quality through ‘ECA ACT Presents’ events such as open nights and tours, sharing and amplifying success stories, and supporting National Conference presentations.
• Lead and inspire professional learning, host ECA Learning Hub live events, calendar of events, subsidised/sponsored personal development attendance.
• Build social capital: Branch RAP, ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander connections, focus on Children’s Week, community connections including the Children and Young People Commissioner and health services.
• Speak up for children via local government connection and consultation, advocating for children’s voices in local planning, professional development in consulting with children.

Our Annual General Meeting will be in March 2019—consider being a part of this very dynamic, professional team and supporting us to achieve these priorities.

New South Wales

ECA NSW has been very excited about the launch of Be You. This program will provide invaluable assistance for children and educators. The Illawarra region and Riverina have hosted introductory sessions with speakers from Be You in attendance. Other regions are following. Hunter held a workshop on staff wellbeing on 5 December.

ECA NSW has celebrated the exceptional work of early childhood educators. As sponsor of the 2019 NSW Premier’s Teacher Scholarship (Early Childhood) award, we are proud to announce that this year’s scholarship winner is Ljiljana Kocic from the preschool at Lansvale Primary School.

In the Riverina, the High Achiever award was won by Sharon Gill, long-serving director from St Mary’s Rainbow Preschool. Tanya Green from KU Koala won the Making the Difference Award. As an educator who manages her disability so well, it was excellent to see her recognised for the positive difference she makes in children’s lives.

ECA NSW enjoyed the Sydney ECA National Conference with a record number of committee members attending National Council. The venue was excellent and the feedback has been very positive. Our thanks to the organising committee and to all the local volunteers who helped with the smooth running of the conference.

Northern Territory

In continuing to expand our networks, ECA NT Branch has recently partnered with ACECQA in delivering forums based on the Quality Standards and Inclusion. Branch members teamed up with Rhonda Livingstone to facilitate the forums in Alice Springs, Katherine and Darwin. Over 80 educators and preschool teachers participated.

The NT Branch Annual General Meeting was held at the beginning of November, and in true NT style, members connected in via Skype from the Alice Springs office. Following the election of the Executive, the branch welcomes two new members: Amanda Dockey as General Member and Jackie Bradshaw as Vice Chairperson.

Queensland

The Queensland Branch recently hosted Catharine Hydon in Brisbane to discuss the Ethics in Action guide. We have also invited Catharine to come back to Brisbane and travel to some more remote areas to present to members next year. All will be welcome.

Our RAP Committee provided two more RAP workshops where Elders and members have come together to hear and understand stories of our First Peoples. Both workshops were an amazing success and we look forward to again bringing people together in 2019.

A successful meeting was held in Toowoomba to start discussions about forming a new sub-group to work in partnership with the Brisbane Branch. If you are interested, please call 1300 322 753 and speak with Val.

Thank you for your continued support, and wishing you all very happy end-of-year celebrations.

South Australia 

The South Australian Branch held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in November. We welcomed three new members to the Executive who will join the 14 continuing members. This larger committee will open new opportunities for our work in advocating for young children. The AGM was an opportunity to acknowledge the wonderful work and contributions of our Executive Committee throughout 2018, in particular Trish Tranfa and Kate Ryan.

During the year, Trish Tranfa resigned from the committee due to work and family commitments. We would like to express our appreciation for the work Trish has put into ECA in her previous roles as Past President and Executive Committee Member, and her commitment over many years to both ECA SA and ECA nationally. Thank you Trish.

After serving as the SA representative Director on the ECA National Board for six years, Kate Ryan has reached the end of her tenure. In this role, Kate has kept the branch informed about the national agenda and contributed significantly to steering ECA’s national strategic priorities and direction. Kate will continue with her role on the Publications Advisory Committee.

Kate has made a significant contribution to ECA SA over many years. She has forged connections with political parties and raised our branch profile. Several federal and state elections have taken place over this period and Kate has been instrumental in organising our Early Childhood Forums. We would like to thank Kate and look forward to her continuing commitment to ECA.

Italia Parletta has been endorsed by ECA SA Executive Committee and appointed SA representative Director on the ECA National Board.

Following the formal business of the AGM we held an Early Childhood Forum. Dr Lesley-Anne Ey, lecturer in child development, educational psychology and child protection at UniSA, presented her research paper on supporting young children’s understanding about bullying. Her paper was well received and provided the 45 participants provocations for their own practice.

Tasmania

In 2017, the Tasmanian Liberal Government announced it would partner with ECA Tasmanian Branch to build on teacher and educator skills. The Early Years and School Age Care Sectors Workforce Plan for Tasmania 2017–2020 provides educators with the opportunities to further develop their skills and learning, in order to support children to get the best possible start in life.

We are pleased to report that in November 2018, the government announced it will continue to provide funding from the Department of Education’s Education and Care Unit’s Grant Program to progress the second year of this Workforce Plan. This allows us to continue exploring options and pathways to ensure a sustainable Tasmanian workforce for the early childhood education and care (ECEC) and school age care sector. Established Innovation Networks will be strengthened, allowing collaboration between stakeholders to identify strategic goals and actions and the ongoing development of an online workforce hub as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for the ECEC and school age care sectors and broader community.

Tasmania is facing critical early years workforce issues, so we are thrilled at this announcement and congratulate the government for their foresight in extending this important project into a second year.

The government also announced the trial sites for the Working Together for 3 Year Olds initiative that will be fully implemented from 2020. This program will provide opportunities for eligible three-year-olds to benefit from 400 hours each year of free early learning, delivered predominantly by ECEC services. Representatives from ECA Tasmania have been active participants in the consultation process.

Advocacy by ECA Tasmania has resulted in the Department of Education developing a guide to the co-location of ECEC and Department of Education services. This policy will provide clear guidelines and expectations of all stakeholders in order to build inclusive and respectful partnerships where ECEC services are located on school sites.

Members of the Branch Executive meet on a regular basis with the secretary of the Tasmanian Government Department of Education. These informal meetings provide the opportunity for both parties to discuss and debate early years matters and collaborate on key issues.

The branch is excited to be hosting the 2019 National Conference in Hobart. We encourage colleagues to make Tasmania their destination and register early, as the smaller capacity of Hobart’s conference centre means it will be a ‘limited edition’ event.

Victoria

On 11 October, ECA Victoria Branch, in partnership with Community Child Care and the Early Learning Association Australia (ELAA), were fortunate to host the election forum. We invited the Minister for Early Childhood Education, Jenny Mikakos; Shadow Minister for Families and Children, Georgie Crozier; and Greens representative Nina Springle to address our audience about their vision for early childhood in Victoria. An election submission had been prepared by the three organisations and the speakers were asked to respond to that document. The forum was a great success and an excellent example of collaboration and partnership between like-minded organisations.

In September, many Victorian ECA members attended the ECA National Conference in Sydney, where a record 2049 delegates were registered. ECA Victoria was able to offer six scholarships to attend the conference through the generosity of the Warrawong Foundation.

Sustainability is always a challenge for small not-for-profit organisations, so we were thrilled to recently sign a service agreement with the Department of Education (DET) to administer the early childhood scholarship program on behalf of the Victorian Government. $7 million worth of scholarships will be rolled out over four years to undergraduate and post-graduate students. We are delighted to continue our relationship with DET to deliver this most important initiative and at the same time ensure the longevity of the organisation.

On 20 November we hosted our Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Research Forum as a combined members’ event. The AGM is an opportunity for the branch to share our work and achievements for the year with our members. It’s also a time to thank those who have made a contribution to the branch and invite members to stand for any vacant positions. The Research Forum provides our members and friends an opportunity to connect with some of the current research being undertaken by Victorian early childhood researchers and practitioners.

At this year’s forum, ECA Victoria was proud to present the Doctoral Thesis Award 2018 to Dr Sue March, Research Assistant at the Faculty of Education, Monash University, for her thesis titled Using fairy tales and the principles of Golden Key schools to develop complex whole group play in an Australian early childhood context. The panel was interested in the use of fairy tales in Golden Key schools; how a traditional fairy tale was used in the research; the complexity of play that was created in a whole-group situation that involved children and adults; and the way contradictions can be used pedagogically.

In Memoriam: Rosemary Waite

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Rosemary Waite earlier in the year.

Rosemary’s long and distinguished career as a campaigner and advocate for community-owned childcare started in the 1970s, when she joined the management committee of the Carlton Creche.

In 1978 she worked with others to set up the Victorian Association of Subsidised Child Care Centres which, following the withdrawal of federal operational subsidy to community child care centres in 1997, became the Victorian Children’s Services Association (VCSA). It is in this capacity that Rosemary was most well-known.

In her role at VCSA, Rosemary always advocated strongly for improved pay conditions for educators in long day care. She played a major role in the new classification structure for mothercraft nurses and childcare workers in the early 1990s, the formation of the Federal Children’s Services (Vic) Award in the mid 1990s, and the long-running wage case in 2003–2005.

For over 30 years Rosemary provided detailed, practical, honest and fearless advice (over the telephone and in person) to many directors, coordinators and committee members on a wide range of industrial and management issues. It was for this role that she was most valued and loved.

Rosemary also made an important contribution to the sector through her roles on the Community Child Care (CCC) Board of Management and the Board of FKA Children’s Services.

Rosemary passed away on 27 May 2018 following a severe stroke.

Western Australia

It has been a very busy three months for us here in the west, with a significant number of members making the trip to Sydney for the ECA National Conference.

The ongoing work of the WA Play Strategy has made some fantastic inroads, reaching 5000 endorsements through engagement with the public at the Royal Show. In addition, the WA Department of Education have prioritised ‘play based learning in a balanced program’ in their annual Focus document.

In October, the branch celebrated its 80th birthday with a party for members, and co-hosted an event with AISWA to celebrate cultural competence in the early years.

At the branch Annual General Meeting, Emma Forde of ARUP delivered a presentation on designing urban childhoods; we elected our new committee for the upcoming year; and farewelled Stephanie Jackiewicz who has served numerous roles on the WA Committee during her time with us, including National Board representation.

As part of our ongoing focus on reconciliation and increasing the Indigenous knowledge of local educators, the branch hosted a Kambarang Cultural Walk event in Piney Lakes with a local guide. We look forward to holding more of these events in 2019.

The Federal Government’s new Child Care Subsidy (CCS) commenced on 2 July 2018, and as expected, there were some significant teething issues for service providers and families. Some providers were challenged by software difficulties as well as the increased administrative load created by the new legislation. Many families didn’t respond to the ‘call to action’ until quite late in the transition, and some then discovered they are not eligible for a subsidy due to the new Activity Test.

It is estimated that 30 000 children are no longer accessing early learning, due to families either not applying for the CCS or failing to meet the Activity Test. ECA will continue to advocate for changes to the Activity Test until all young children have access to at least two days per week of affordable, high-quality early education and care, prior to starting school.

ECA is particularly concerned about children at risk of long-term educational disadvantage missing out on early learning. We are hearing worrying reports from services operating in low socioeconomic areas that a significant number of children have withdrawn from programs—particularly those who would benefit the most from regular participation. We are also very concerned about some of the services that were formerly funded through the Budget Based Funding (BBF) program and are now struggling to maintain their enrolments since moving into the CCS system. This includes services in rural and remote areas, Indigenous services and mobile services.

Back in May, the Federal Budget had revealed that the Federal Government was withdrawing from the National Partnership Agreement on the National Quality Agenda for Early Childhood Education and Care, and cutting funding to state/territory regulatory authorities. The former Minister for Education and Training, Simon Birmingham, had stated that he no longer saw a role for the Commonwealth in financing regulatory activities that are state/territory government responsibilities. ECA met with Senator Birmingham to express our concern about the long-term consequences of this decision; we continue to urge the Federal Government to re-engage and demonstrate a clear commitment to continuous quality improvement.

Funding for the National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education, which delivers 600 hours of preschool/kindergarten to children in the year before school, was extended to the end of 2019, but the longer-term status is unclear. The Lifting Our Game report on the role of early education in improving Australia’s education performance was commissioned by state and territory governments to inform Council of Australian Government negotiations. The report recommended extended universal access to two years before school, while allowing flexibility across jurisdictions in regard to how this would be delivered. The Federal Government has not formally responded to the recommendations of Lifting Our Game, and has instead focused on negotiating increased accountability and transparency in Universal Access (UA) funding, including a new requirement for reporting attendance data. We anticipate this will be part of any negotiation for future UA funding.

Finally, the somewhat tumultuous political events in recent weeks have resulted in a change of Minister at the Federal level. Hon. Dan Tehan MP has been appointed Minister for Education and Training in Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s new Cabinet, and Michelle Landry has been appointed Assistant Minister for Children and Families. Over the next few months, ECA will be keenly engaging with the new Ministers, as well as early childhood spokespeople from across other political parties, as we head to a Federal Election sometime between now and May 2019.

Communications

The ECA Communications team is pleased to report that our Facebook following has reached 100 000+ during the quarter, with more followers being added each week. We are now reaching more than three million people across our social media channels. You can join the conversation here! Some of our recent activities include:

• the ECA Leadership Program group and ECA Reconciliation Champions Facebook pages have been actively exchanging videos, quotes and observations about the professional development modules, events and practice reflections
• view the ECA Leadership Program video previews from ECA Learning Hub modules, such as Documenting and assessing children’s learning: Part II
• seventeen posts featured on ECA’s blog, The Spoke—many of these posts were received from members or commissioned in response to sensitive topics and areas of keen interest to members, such as:

– the controversy over the Sorry Sorry picture book, which had a high online and Facebook engagement
– children’s rights
– consent and agency
– the ever-popular theme of children’s self-regulation, emotional and social development
– a new Q&A format to highlight the work of international keynote presenters at the 2018 ECA National Conference was trialled successfully, featuring Dr Stuart Shanker on Self-Reg, and Dr Cindy Blackstock on Doing better for all young children.

To write for The Spoke, please have a look at our blog guidelines and send us your article ideas. We are always seeking new and engaging content from our members about educational practice with young children and families. Please let us know if you have a blog or video you would like featured on our social media platforms.

Media

In the June to August quarter, there were momentous changes and announcements affecting early childhood education.

• On 2 July, the new Child Care Subsidy (CCS) came into effect—ECA calls for two days per week of access to early learning for all children, expressing concern that the CCS Activity Test will result in children missing out on access to early learning.
• On 20 June, the New South Wales (NSW) Government announced funding of community preschool for three-year-olds.
• On 31 July, the Australian Capital Territory Government announced the introduction of free preschool for three-year–olds.
• On 30 August, NSW Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Pru Goward, announced funding for ECA’s Early Signals. First Responses project under the DV Innovation Fund Round 2 grants.

For further details, see our media releases, here.

Overall, ECA was mentioned in 270 online and print stories and 119 broadcast items that reached 550 million views. The coverage jumped dramatically during this quarter (from six-and-a-half million in the previous quarter) because of the high number and broad syndication of stories about the new Child Care Subsidy, which quoted ECA CEO Samantha Page. ECA Western Australian (WA) was also quoted in several major stories in WA press about the WA Play Strategy campaign.

Marketing

ECA has several new resources coming out and sales of our other popular products continue to soar. We are delighted to present our latest resource for early childhood services: Box of provocations by Anne Stonehouse AM. The provocations contained in the box will provoke deeper thinking and reflection that drives improved quality, particularly in pedagogy and practice. They can be used with educators of all levels of formal qualifications and experience in a variety of settings. Beautifully presented and made to last, these will be a popular resource in your service for many years to come.

Our popular Early Years Daily Planner and Weekly Planner are back for 2019! The full-colour practical layout includes ample writing space for recording reflections, notes, meetings, focuses, interactions and learning experiences. The planners have been produced in collaboration with ECA and feature early years learning tips linked to the Early Years Learning Framework and the National Quality Standard, which are aimed at supporting educators in their profession. ECA members can currently receive a discount on this best-selling resource—so grab your copy today!

By the end of this quarter, more than 76 600 copies of ECA’s revised Code of Ethics have been distributed to services, and over 1500 copies of Ethics in Action: A practical guide to implementing the ECA Code of Ethics have been sold. A number of ECA branches and regional networks have held events to discuss the revised Code of Ethics and provide some guidance on using the implementation guide. There is also a webinar and an online learning module on the ECA Learning Hub, related to the Code of Ethics, to support professional learning. ECA will continue to develop resources to support the Code of Ethics and ethical practice more broadly across the early childhood sector.

This past quarter has been a very busy one for the ECA Publications and Studio Team—developing, editing and designing materials for the upcoming 2018 ECA National Conference, working on the 2017–2018 ECA Annual Report, along with various promotional materials and statements for the 2018 conference. While conference projects have been at the forefront of the ECA Publications and Studio Team’s workload, we have also been busy producing various publications for ECA and external clients. A few of our latest ECA titles include:

• Everyday Learning Series: Sleep in early childhood by Pam Linke (Vol. 16 No. 2 2018)
• Every Child magazine (Vol. 24 No. 2 2018)
• Research in Practice Series: Intentional teaching of cultural competence in play-based settings: A cultural-historical view by Marilyn Fleer (Vol. 25 No. 2 2018)
• Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (Vol. 43 No. 2 2018).

To help support your professional learning, ensure you don’t miss out on receiving each issue of ECA’s core publications, all of which are available through publication subscriptions—each title is published four times per year, with discounted prices for ECA members. Subscribe today with a one-, two- or three-year subscription.

Did you know? ECA’s Research in Practice Series provides practical, easy-to-read, up-to-date information and support for early childhood educators. The books bring together the best information available on wide-ranging topics, and are an ideal resource for children’s services, educators and others interested in the care and education of young children. To find out more about the series, click here.

Did you know? ECA’s Everyday Learning Series is aimed at early childhood educators, students of early education, beginning practitioners, parents, grandparents and carers. This series provides wonderful suggestions about how to create positive learning environments for young children, by ‘making the ordinary extraordinary’. To find out more about the series, click here.

To make sure you don’t miss out, subscribe to ECA publications today and save on upcoming titles!

KidsMatter Early Childhood has been very busy recently, with the number of participating early learning services and schools now exceeding 1000. These services and schools are realising the mental health and wellbeing benefits derived from being part of the KidsMatter community.

We have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of Getting Started and Check-in events. This has helped us provide even more opportunities for educators across Australia to become involved in KidsMatter Early Childhood, and for those already involved, to join national networks to participate in professional discussions.

If you have questions about KidsMatter or just want to say ‘Hi’, please come and visit the KidsMatter team at the ECA National Conference in Sydney during September. We will be there to answer any queries you may have about KidsMatter or to just have a chat about mental health and wellbeing at your place. See you there … or online!

We have almost reached the conclusion of the current webinar series, which has proved to be very popular, attracting large numbers of participants Australia-wide. Stay tuned for news of more webinars to come.

The KidsMatter team members are also busy preparing for the launch of the National Education Initiative later this year. ECA is an implementation partner alongside headspace in the National Education Initiative being led by beyondblue. The initiative aims to support the mental health of children and young people from birth until they reach the end of Year 12.

Participating in KidsMatter Early Childhood is a great way for early learning services and schools to prepare for all that the National Education Initiative has to offer. To find out what is involved and how to get KidsMatter started at your place, please watch our on-demand webinar, ‘KidsMatter Essentials’, with your team. Then register your service or school, and book to attend a Getting Started event. Your team will walk away from the event with two professional learning topics well under way.

Why choose online professional learning?

Online professional learning has the potential to engage educators and be an effective and flexible way to extend their knowledge and improve their practice.

Services using online learning within their professional development programming report that it is a sustainable and enduring option. Participants can revisit content and new staff can complete professional learning in a timely manner, with everyone accessing and sharing the same knowledge. Services also report on the value of access to high-quality presenters and unique training topics that otherwise would not be available in their local setting.

Research suggests that online learning can enable greater access to professional learning and consistent, better quality programs (Gomez, Kagan & Fox, 2015). Recent Australian research (Highfield, Wallis & Stockman, 2017) found that educators enjoyed the flexible nature of online learning, as they could access resources at times that suited them—no matter their location—and that online resources could be used in many ways, such as independently or with a team of colleagues.

What’s new from ECA Learning Hub?

Encountering and interpreting the principles of Reggio Emilia

Discover and explore the principles of Reggio Emilia in this one-of-a-kind online professional learning package, developed by Early Childhood Australia (ECA) and the Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange (REAIE), in collaboration with Reggio Children, Italy.
Price: $100
Duration: 3 hours

This package contains three interactive learning modules:

• Encounter 1: Not just any place
• Encounter 2: Seeing things differently
• Encounter 3: Teachers and children as researchers.

To learn more about the package, and watch an exclusive video, click here.

Where to start when using Australian Early Development Census data in your setting (Webinar)
Dr Jessie Jovanovic explores why the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) data is useful for educators, what it tells us, and some of the ways in which educators may wish to start using it. This is a highly practical webinar that explores, step-by-step, how to access, read and interpret data provided by the AEDC. Click here to find out more.

Emotion coaching: A transformational tool (Webinar)

This highly practical webinar by psychologist Beth Macgregor examines, through case studies and videos, how the five steps to emotion coaching can provide teachable moments during times of distress and assist children in further developing their own agency and understanding of emotions and feelings. To learn more about this webinar, click here.

ECA Learning Hub pre-conference masterclasses

Collaborative leadership in a world of complexity—masterclass with Leanne Gibbs
Attend an ECA Leadership Program masterclass on 19 September! Presented by Leanne Gibbs, ‘Collaborative leadership in a world of complexity’ will expand your knowledge on leadership and collaborative approaches to building your team. For more information, or to register, click here.

Nature Pedagogy meets technology: A perfect match or an incompatible disaster? Masterclass with Claire Warden and Dr Kate Highfield
Participants will engage in hands-on sessions exploring Nature Pedagogy and technology, focusing on opportunities and challenges for educators. Click here for more information, or to register today.

Our key focus this quarter was on coordinating our major campaign initiative for the year, our first ever national Early Learning Matters Week. The goal was to increase federal politicians’ understanding of the benefits of early learning for children, families and society, and to engage politicians of all parties in experiencing quality early learning first-hand by inviting them to visit an excellent early childhood service in their electorate.

We had 67 federal politicians from across both houses and all sides of politics—including five Ministers, two Assistant Ministers and 10 Shadow Ministers—visit 68 early childhood services in all six states and the ACT. You can access photos of the politicians’ visits through this album.

Media coverage included a feature in the Sydney Morning Herald, several positive local media stories and a great interview on Kinderling Conversation with ECA’s Professional Learning and Research Translation General Manager, Dr Kate Highfield, describing the early learning activities taking place in the online photos. See links to media stories here.

We also increased engagement with the campaign and created a new public showcase of quality early learning by inviting educators to post photos of early learning activities on social media using the #EARLYLearningMatters hashtag.

On Twitter, #EARLYLearningMatters reached 123 000 accounts and 273 274 impressions; Facebook posts reached over 138 000 accounts, with 6900 engagements; and during the week, 80 photos related to #EARLYLearningMatters were posted on Instagram—you can see the selection in the Facebook album here.

Our Everyone Benefits Facebook page also received another 260 likes, taking the total to just over 13 000 (an increase of more than 4000 this year). ECA members are invited to continue sharing photos of their favourite early learning activity, using #EARLYLearningMatters on Facebook and Instagram.

Join the campaign to show your support and receive campaign news and updates.

The ECA Events team is excited to be in the last few weeks of preparation for the 2018 ECA National Conference, Be the difference for children and families, being held in Sydney from 19 to 22 September. We have been busy finalising a brilliant line-up of international and local keynotes, workshop presenters plus wonderful entertainment, an Exhibition Hall of 100+ booths and 75+ exhibitors, with launches, hands-on experiences and lots of networking opportunities.

This is your chance to make use of your membership discount to register for the NESA- and TQI-registered Conference and—for the first time ever—two ECA masterclasses. The conference is an opportunity to meet other like-minded professionals and ECA members, and to learn from researchers and experts such as Professor Paul Ramchandani, Cambridge University’s LEGO® Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning; Dr Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada; and Dr Stuart Shanker, Research Professor Emeritus of psychology and philosophy, York University, and the creator of The MEHRIT Centre and the Self Regulation Institute. It is also a great way for ECA members to source the best resources and ideas for your practice. Register now!

We have also confirmed the next AJEC Research Symposium for 14 and 15 February 2019, to be held at the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne. AJEC Call for papers is now open and the theme is Multiplicity: Exploring multiple perspectives, agendas and methodologies in early childhood research.

The 2019 ECA Reconciliation Symposium will also be hosted in Melbourne. Registrations will open later this year.

The ECA Customer Service team has been extremely busy over the past few months! We have been working hard on a new ‘one-click renewal process’, which will make renewing memberships and subscriptions a lot easier for our current members. We have also welcomed a new team member, who is proving to be a great help leading up to a busy 2018 National Conference period.

We have been reviewing our internal procedures and ensuring they are accurate. A new desk configuration and setup has been installed, providing two additional workstations. Our weekly team meetings are proving valuable, ensuring we are all up-to-date with our weekly tasks and providing a chance for new ideas to be discussed and actioned.

Australian Capital Territory

ECA ACT has focused the first part of the year on building our online presence through our Facebook page. We are very excited to have Rowena Muir as our social media expert, who is ensuring our Facebook page offers engaging information and promotes ACT early childhood community information. We are currently inviting contributors from the ACT early childhood sector to share their inputs through ECA publications such as Every Child magazine; to engage in professional conversations via our Facebook page by allowing us to share their articles; and be available to respond to any questions that our community may have.

For the first-ever Early Learning Matters Week, we received some fantastic contributions and look forward to seeing this event grow bigger and bigger as it gains momentum!

ECA ACT also welcomed the ACT Government’s announcement about extending 15 hours per week of free, universal education to three-year-old children, as part of the ACT Early Childhood Strategy. We look forward to contributing to the next phase of consultations, and welcome members’ feedback on how they see this working effectively.

New South Wales

Our ECA NSW Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on 17 May 2018 in Sydney. The National Children’s Commissioner, Megan Mitchell, was our guest speaker. She presented on Australia’s current preparation for its appearance before the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child. The UN Committee monitors Australia’s progress in fulfilling its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Every five years, the Australian Government reports to the UN Committee on its progress on children’s rights.

Commissioner Mitchell also discussed the Child Safe Organisations project as well as the development of the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. If you would like to find out more information about the work of the Commission, please click here.

The AGM elections were held for the executive positions of ECA NSW. We thank Dr Sandra Cheeseman for acting as Public Officer during our elections. The following members were elected to the Branch Executive for the next twelve months:

• Carol Burgess—President
• Natalie Grenfell—Vice President
• Rose Todd—Treasurer
• Ian Alchin—Executive
• Gabby Holden—Executive
• Jan Langtry—Executive
• Chris Legg—Executive
• Anita Jovanovski—Executive
• Marina Papic—Executive.

For all our members, a copy of the branch Annual General Report 2017 is available for download on our website.

Northern Territory

It has been a very busy quarter for the ECA NT Branch. The branch has commenced services as the Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) partner with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Through a very productive partnership with the NT Department of Education, ECA NT had the pleasure, once again, of hosting Professor Ted Melhuish in the Territory. Professor Melhuish spoke at fully subscribed Network meetings in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs. Of particular note was the excellent response from educators in Katherine, highlighting a growing interest in the services that ECA NT can provide.

The visit from our CEO, Samantha Page, coinciding with the Darwin Network meeting, was also a welcome surprise.

Queensland

The ECA Queensland Branch welcomed new members to our Branch Committee. We have formed new subcommittees since our AGM and have started preparing for the 2020 ECA National Conference to be held in Brisbane.

In early August, the Early Careers Committee held an evening to discuss digital technology with students and teachers from all over Brisbane. We had approximately 90 people attend and it was a wonderful evening for a gold-coin donation. We also took the opportunity to launch our Instagram account.

We also have several events planned for the coming months. For further information on future events, please view our Facebook page. Upcoming events include:

• Reconciliation Forum on Saturday 13 October from 9.00 am to 3.00 pm in South Brisbane.
• Reconciliation Forum on Saturday 27 October from 9.00 am to 3.00 pm in Bundaberg.

South Australia

In June, ECA SA held a successful branch meeting focusing on mental health, with KidsMatter Early Childhood consultants Cris Zotto and Nikki Edwards. Mental health is integral to the overall health of each of us. Particularly, educator self-care and children’s mental health are important considerations for all early years settings. Cris and Nikki shared news about some new and exciting changes that would soon bring KidsMatter Early Childhood and other school-based initiatives together into the National Education Initiative.

KidsMatter Early Childhood continues to offer a free, whole-of-service framework, with an extensive range of resources, online professional learning and ongoing consultant support to build on the work that early childhood services and sites are already doing. KidsMatter aims to develop educator mental health literacy and to enable early childhood settings to grow protective factors for children’s good mental health as well as identify referral pathways when additional help is needed. The attendees on the night gave positive feedback on the content of the information and the opportunity to network with colleagues.

This event was provided by the ECA SA Branch free of charge, to encourage a wide audience of participation.

In August, the first session for the second round of the South Australian Collaborative Childhood Project commenced, with an exclusive presentation by Professor Carla Rinaldi. It was a privilege and delight for ECA SA to engage with this rich dialogue; launching us into the next phase of our work: raising the visibility of children from birth.

The project is a state-wide network doing early childhood research. It was developed following recommendations by the 2013 Thinker in Residence, Professor Carla Rinaldi, through her Re-imagining Childhood: The inspiration of the Reggio Emilia education principles in South Australia report.

The project engages in ongoing research into how childhood can inspire cultural, educational, philosophical and economic change for SA, and challenge current perceptions of childhood.

An invitation to apply to be part of a second cohort of services resulted in a high number of services responding. Nine new sites were chosen to work alongside five continuing sites. Over the coming 12 months, these sites have committed to:

• research the Reggio Emilia education principles within their local context
• make visible how each service enacts the rights of the child as citizen from birth
• share their research locally, state-wide and nationally.

ECA SA is represented in the project through the position held by our National Director, Kate Ryan, as Chairperson on the Social Cultural Collaboration, along with Joan Gilbert, ECA SA President, on the Project Birth to Three Leadership Committee that manages and leads the research project.

Tasmania

ECA Tasmania Branch has had a busy three months, working hard in our advocacy role and ensuring that our members have opportunities to network with other professionals.

Our work continues on the draft policy for co-location of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services on school sites. We presented a second position paper to the government after a series of consultation workshops were held across the state. The two executive members on the Stronger Partnerships working group have been actively advocating for an improved understanding of the issues faced by outside school hours care and long day care services on school sites; they will continue to work hard to ensure the policy is in the best interests of all children.

We have held two state-wide meetings over the past three months, with a range of guest speakers including: Dr Elspeth Stephenson from the University of Tasmania, who spoke on trauma-based practice; Karen Swabey from the University of Tasmania, who spoke about the new Associate Degree; and Gail Eaton-Briggs, the new Deputy Secretary of Children, Communities Tasmania. There were also presentations on Cyber Safety, KidsMatter Early Childhood and the new Child Care Subsidy. State-wide meetings continue to be the best way to bring the sector together, to encourage professional conversation and to allow opportunities for members to network.

At our recent AGM, there was a change in committee, with Ros Cornish being elected as President, and Kathryn Laing as Vice President. The Executive wishes them well in their leadership positions.

Victoria

We are well into term three of 2018 and now looking forward to the ECA National Conference in Sydney in September. The response for registrations was strong, and we are proud of being able to offer free registrations and assistance with accommodation and fares to six lucky members through a grant from the Warrawong Foundation. The program looks stimulating and thought-provoking as usual, with ‘something for everyone’.

On 8 June, the Department of Education and Training (DET) hosted a sector forum ‘Realising the Potential’ at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. The forum attracted 1500 delegates from across the state, with a waiting list on the day. ECA Victoria Branch—together with Early Learning Association Australia (ELAA), Early Childhood Intervention Australia (ECIA), the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), the Parenting Research Centre, The Front Project and Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated (VAEAI)—partnered with DET to stage the huge event.

July came and went, with the introduction of the new Child Care Subsidy (CCS) still to reveal its impact on families, and any change in utilisation patterns due to the Activity Test.

In Victoria, the Early Years Reforms are being rolled out, with the first round of School Readiness funding announced by the government. The new team of officers employed by DET to implement the funding has been established.

So far this year, we held one forum Ethics in Action on 17 April, with more than 80 members attending, and another forum in partnership with Community Child Care Association and ELAA on 28 August. The latter was an election debate on early years policy, with the three main parties represented: Minister for Families and Children, Jenny Mikakos (Australian Labour Party); Shadow Minister for Families and Children, Georgie Crozier (Liberal Party); and Spokesperson for Women, Families and Children, Nina Springle (Victorian Greens). These representatives gave us their views on the state of early education in Victoria and what they will be promising in their election platforms.

Western Australia

This year, ECA WA branch has been busy reaching out to centre-based care services, family day care, outside school hours care and the early years of schooling to offer trials of resources that ECA produces. Beginning with books, papers and web links, this culminated in a shared webinar in August. The educators, directors and providers got together to look at the content of the webinar and how they can best use it to support team growth.

The branch meetings support this learning community approach with discussion-based meetings, where members do what they really want to do: share learning, ideas and innovations.

The meetings have also heard from the incredible Play Strategy team as they spread the message that we need governments, agencies, organisations and individuals to support the push for a WA Play Strategy. In Bunbury, a multidisciplinary meeting on the issue brought together representatives from health, education, family support, and education and care sectors to learn more on the issue and the campaign. We are seeing some incredible work on ‘play’ happening across the state as the issue and need is highlighted. Click here for more information.

Finally, we are gearing up to celebrate ECA’s 80th birthday. Our branch Facebook page and newsletter will have more details on planned events and activities.

We are now in the last quarter before the new Child Care Subsidy (CCS) scheme is introduced. Yet, there are many services that haven’t registered as providers, and even more parents that haven’t transferred their information for the new system to be implemented. Parents who are currently using the Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate will not be automatically moved onto the new system. So, it’s important to encourage them to update their details through their myGov account.

ECA remains concerned that the new CCS will mean that many children will miss out on subsidised early education and care, due to the rigorous Activity Test and increased bureaucracy across the system. This fear was enhanced by the government’s Federal Budget projections, which implied a lower uptake of CCS in future years. Australian National University modelling, undertaken two years ago, had warned of this and now it appears to be the reality.

This year’s Federal Budget had a nasty surprise for the sector and for parents. The Federal Government announced that it would be unilaterally withdrawing from the National Partnership Agreement, and defunding states and territories to the tune of $13 million to undertake assessments and ratings, while continuing to fund the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) for just an additional two years. This has put the national quality system under threat, and starts to unpick the improvements in quality that have been made since the National Quality Framework was started almost
10 years ago. State and territory governments, and the sector, have urged the Federal Government to reconsider their decision and to reinstate what is, in the context of the $8 billion investment in early education and care annually, a small amount of funding. The nationally consistent approach to quality improvement across the sector is fundamental for ensuring that children are not only safe, but also receiving high standards of education and care. It is also pertinent that this is transparent to parents and families that use early childhood education and care (ECEC) services.

On 28 March 2018, the Review to achieve educational excellence in Australian schools (the ‘Gonski report’) was released, making mention of the importance of quality early childhood education about long-term educational outcomes for children. While there were no specific recommendations in regards to ECEC, it was heartening to see that the role ECEC plays in children’s education is being acknowledged. Against that backdrop, ECA is eager to see how the Federal Government will proceed with the National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education, given that there still hasn’t been a long-term funding commitment. Without funding certainty, preschool programs around the country will have difficulty planning their services.

In the March-to-May quarter, ECA was mentioned in 37 online and print stories and 78 broadcast stories that reached 6.5 million views. Highlights of our coverage include:

• comments in support of the Educators’ Walk off in March
• ECA CEO interviews on ABC talk shows, in response to France introducing compulsory preschool for three-year-olds
• another ECA CEO interview on new family day care fraud statistics that ran in many ABC outlets in April
• a positive story about ECA WA’s proposal for a play strategy, which ran in The Australian
• coverage of ECA’s Budget Analysis in Kinderling and Kidspot, in May
• an interview by ABC Canberra about quality, where we were able to mention the Budget cuts to the National Quality Agenda
• ECA Queensland’s press and TV coverage of Under Eights Week activities.

See our media releases on the Budget here.

The ECA Shop has been busy with sales and promotions throughout the past three months, including discounts for ECA’s Reconciliation Symposium and Reconciliation Week in May. We had the chance to showcase a range of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander–related resources at the 2018 ECA Reconciliation Symposium in Fremantle, WA, and they turned out to be a big hit among the delegates. To view the entire range of resources, click here.

The ECA Shop also had an eventful spring, with new quality-assured resources added. Quality-assured means having every single publication and resource peer-reviewed by the ECA Publications Committee. Find out more about the quality assurance criteria here.

ECA members receive exclusive discounts on ECA publications and on a huge selection of quality-assured titles. You just need to login to your account when visiting the ECA Shop to be entitled. Want to become an ECA member? Click here to find out more.

We also had great interest in our much-anticipated Ethics in Action: A practical guide to implementing the ECA Code of Ethics. This easy-to-use publication is suitable for all educators, managers and childhood professionals caring for children aged birth to 12 years. You can get your copy here.

Our social media team remained busy, with Facebook followers exceeding 99 000 and more adding in each week. We are now reaching more than three million people across our social media channels. Please come and join the conversation here! Some of our recent activities include:

• the ECA Leadership Facebook group (exclusively for participants) that has been exchanging videos, quotes and observations about the professional development module and reflections in the ECA Leadership Program
  
• video previews from ECA Learning Hub’s new modules, such as Documenting and assessing children’s learning: Part II
• 14 posts (nearly double the number since last quarter) on ECA’s blog, The Spoke. Improving air quality with indoor plants at the Honey Tree Preschool Bellbird had a very strong response, as did The Gonski report—implications for early years teaching. If you would like to write for The Spoke, please have a look at our blog guidelines and send us your article ideas
• an infographic highlighting the signs of young children’s stress, and a post about how you talk to babies and its effect on their brains, reached an astronomical
  82 000+ views in April
• nature play, the outdoors and mindfulness were popular themes on our social media channels in May—our post about the research on the benefits of time spent outdoors by young children reached more than 60 000 views; as did a short video post on ways children can regulate emotions through breathing
• the Federal Budget infographic—available within hours of the Budget 2018 release—reached 37 000+ views
• Facebook posts marking reconciliation—including one offering free ECA Learning Hub resources—were also popular in May.

We are continuously on the lookout for new, engaging content from our members about their educational practice with young children and families. Please let us know if you have a blog or video you would like featured on our social media platforms.

Also, don’t miss the opportunity to register for the 2018 ECA National Conference. This year we will be hosting it in Sydney, NSW, from
19 to 22 September. Register now!

The ECA Publications and Studio Team was busy developing, editing and designing materials for the recently concluded ECA Reconciliation Symposium, and work for the upcoming ECA National Conference is currently in full swing. Besides that, our experienced ECA Studio team developed a diverse selection of innovative materials for ECA and external clients. A few of our latest ECA titles include:

• Everyday Learning Series—A guide to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures: The important first step to reconciliation, by Jo Goodwin (Vol. 16 No. 1 2018)
• Every Child magazine—Wellbeing and much more … (Vol. 24 No. 1 2018)
• Research in Practice Series—Helping children with difficult things, by Pam Linke (Vol. 25 No. 1 2018)
• Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (Vol. 43 No. 1 2018).

A big thank you to our current subscribers, as your subscription supports ECA’s advocacy for young children. Upcoming and future topics being covered in our publications include:

• Intentional teaching of cultural competence in play-based settings
• Sleep
• Science in early childhood
• Reconciliation: Building all children’s understanding
• Technology and documentation/Ethical and meaningful use of documentation
• Critical reflection
• Wellbeing for educators and families
• Learning to read.

To help support your professional learning, make sure you don’t miss out on receiving each issue of ECA’s core publications, all of which are available through subscriptions—each title is published four times per year, with discounted prices for ECA members. Subscribe today with a one-, two- or three-year subscription.

Did you know? ECA’s Research in Practice Series provides practical, easy to read, up-to-date information and support for early childhood educators. The books bring together the best information available on wide-ranging topics, and are an ideal resource for children’s services, educators and others interested in the care and education of young children. Find out more about the series by clicking here and viewing a sample of The Circle of Security: Roadmap to building supportive relationships.

Did you know? ECA is currently seeking authors for the following Research in Practice Series topics:

• Spirituality
• Mentoring and coaching
• Trauma-informed practice
• Transition to school

The call for Expressions of Interest, and further information on each of the topics, is available here. Submissions for the above EOI topics close Monday 2 July 2018. For more details visit: https://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/our-publications/research-practice-series/write-research-practice-series/

 

Did you know? ECA’s Everyday Learning Series is aimed at early childhood educators, students of early education, beginning practitioners, parents, grandparents and carers. This series provides wonderful suggestions about how to create positive learning environments for young children, by ‘making the ordinary extraordinary’. Find out more about the series by clicking here and viewing a sample of Children’s rights: Every day and everywhere—Book 1.

To make sure you don’t miss out, subscribe to an ECA publication today and save on upcoming titles!

KidsMatter Early Childhood has been busy this year, especially with the return of our webinars. You can watch the recordings of the first two popular events, ‘Educator wellbeing—Yours, mine and ours’ and ‘Becoming social—learning how’ now. Another eight webinars, on topics we know you’ll love, have also been scheduled. So don’t miss out, book your spot now!

Webinars aren’t the only online events we have available. There are many more events being offered, so educators can get started with KidsMatter, and have more opportunities to check-in with the KidsMatter team as well as other educators across Australia.

Did you know, our Facebook community has just become 30 000 strong? Remember, you will always find us, our online learning community and our great resources on Facebook too.

The KidsMatter team members are busy continuing their work in preparation for the launch of the National Education Initiative later this year. ECA is an implementation partner alongside headspace in the National Education Initiative being led by beyondblue. The initiative aims to support the mental health of children and young people from birth until they reach the end of Year 12.

Participating in KidsMatter Early Childhood is a great way for early learning services and schools to prepare for all that the National Education Initiative has to offer. Today, approximately 800 early learning services and schools are participating in KidsMatter Early Childhood. Their communities are enjoying the mental health and wellbeing benefits … but there is still room for more services to get started!

To find out what is involved and how to get KidsMatter started at your place, watch ‘KidsMatter Essentials’, an on-demand webinar with your team. Then register your service or school and book to attend a Getting started event. Your team will walk away from the event with two professional learning topics well under way.

If you have more questions, or want to come and say ‘Hi’, we’ll be at the ECA National Conference in September too. See you there … or online soon!

New professional learning packages

The ECA Learning Hub has developed a collection of five new professional learning packages. Each package contains a cluster of five online learning courses, comprising of on-demand webinars and interactive learning modules.

Professional learning package topics include:

• Curriculum learning areas
• Exploring pedagogical practices to promote learning
• Science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM)
• Service leadership
• Supporting language and culture in early childhood.

Click here for more information.

ECA Leadership Program

The ECA Leadership Program has been in the studio recording two new ECA Leadership Program webinars. Both our new webinars are panel discussions that focus on a particular capability from the ECA Leadership Capability Framework. The first one is about describing and understanding Capability 2: Addresses children’s rights and honours diversity of all kinds in positive, constructive and courageous ways. The second panel discussion is on
Capability 6: Collaboratively creates a cohesive and effective team. These two webinars are being offered exclusively to participants enrolled in the
ECA Leadership Program.

New professional learning

On demand webinars

• Anti-bias approaches in early childhood
• Settling multiple children in ECEC settings
• Privacy awareness in children’s services

Learning modules

• Understanding behaviour: Supporting children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Documenting and assessing children’s learning: Part II
• Managing challenging exchanges—responding professionally

Coming soon

• Webinar: Emotion coaching—a transformational tool
• Module: Music in early childhood education

Special projects

Mindfulness in early childhood

ECA and Smiling Mind are partnering up to deliver two online modules, exclusively for early childhood educators looking to increase their own mindfulness skills and foster children’s mindfulness skills. Look out for these modules in the coming months! In the meantime, why not download this free app for adults.

Sleep resources

ECA Learning Hub has teamed up with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) to develop sleep resources. The sleep resources will consist of three online learning modules that will support educators’ understanding of children’s sleep needs, sleep-related practices, as well as policy and procedure considerations. These modules are due for release in September 2018.

Our team has been busy developing new ways of spreading the word about the importance of early education. We have developed new infographics, which have proved to be very popular—they are being run on Facebook and Twitter after releasing them in our monthly newsletter (to educators and parents). Each image is accompanied by a detailed blog with references.

Our top performing post to date was our March infographic about pay equity for early childhood educators—it reached more than 215 000 views and achieved more than 6400 actions (shares, likes, etc.).

We invite all ECA members to share the new infographics—you will find a link to the relevant blog in the description panel here.

To be the first to see the new infographic each month, sign up here.

To date, the campaign has received over 12 000 likes on Facebook, which is a great start. Like our page and help us achieve our goal of 15 000 likes this year.

Early Learning Matters Week

The campaign is coordinating Australia’s first ever Early Learning Matters Week from 5–12 August this year. We will invite Federal MPs and Senators to excellent early childhood services and programs. The purpose is to educate them on the value of quality early learning and access for all Australian children to better support their early development.

Click here to check if your organisation is currently a member involved in Early Learning Matters Week.

To find out more about how your organisation can get involved, contact our campaign manager, Carolin Wenzel, at: cwenzel@earlychildhood.org.au.

2018 ECA Reconciliation Symposium

The 2018 ECA Reconciliation Symposium, Advancing reconciliation in early childhood education and care, was held in Fremantle, WA, on 11 and 12 May 2018. This fourth symposium was very successful, attracting more than 200 delegates from around Australia.

The event featured keynote presentations from Karen Mundine (Reconciliation Australia); Carol Innes and James Back (Reconciliation WA); Cheryl Kickett-Tucker (Curtin University); and Isabelle Adams on Day 1.  Day 2 of the symposium began with a presentation from Alex Shain, Esma Livermore and Stephanie Woerde (Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in Schools and Early Learning) explaining how the Narragunnawali platform can help schools and services to build a Reconciliation Action Plan. And there was a powerful presentation by Kerryn Jones, Katrina Tjitayi, Makinti Minutjukur and Penny Cook on ‘Finding a third space’ that articulated how early education in the remote Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands (SA/NT/WA) is delivered under the guidance of the Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara Education Committee (PYEC) and SA Department of Education and Child Development (DECD).

Hearing the Pitjantjatjara language spoken was a particular highlight for many delegates.

There were several talks from different panels, such as: Perspectives on what it means to be Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander—personal stories of family, culture, language and Country; Practice and strategies for promoting cultural inclusion in early childhood settings and schools; and Perspectives on supporting Aboriginal educators and Indigenous leadership.

The 2019 ECA Reconciliation Symposium will be hosted in Melbourne. Registrations will open later this year.

2018 Early Childhood Australia National Conference

The 2018 ECA National Conference, Be the difference for children and families, will be held at the International Convention Centre Sydney
from 19–22 September. 

Not long before early bird registration closes on 30 June 2018—don’t miss out! The Program at a Glance is available now! View the program here and register today for this highly anticipated event. Join professionals from the sector who want to make a difference in the lives of young children and their families.

The conference will explore current and emerging practice, showcase professional development resources and facilitate deep reflective thinking. It will also be a terrific opportunity to network with peers, meet with leading suppliers and see the latest technology available to support early childhood service delivery. Keynote speakers include Dr Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada; Dr Stuart Shanker, Research Professor Emeritus of psychology and philosophy, York University, and the creator of The MEHRIT Centre and the Self-Regulation Institute; as well as Professor Paul Ramchandani, LEGO Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning, Cambridge University; and Stan Grant, Indigenous Affairs Editor for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Indigenous constitutional recognition.

This year will also see the addition of two limited-place ECA masterclasses for eligible conference delegates: the exclusive masterclass (open to ECA Leadership Program participants); and the Claire Warden masterclass (open to all conference delegates). Both masterclasses will be presented by ECA Learning Hub. The ECA Events team will release details in the coming weeks—members will be the first to hear about the options to register for these limited-place sessions.

Sponsorship of the ECA National Conference is a great way to promote your organisation/business to the early childhood sector. ECA will ensure that your investment is worthwhile, with many direct and indirect benefits for your business or organisation. Sponsorship will allow you to promote your products and services to reach the early childhood education and care sector, demonstrating commitment and support for service providers and educators. A range of promotional opportunities are available, including branding in printed conference material and on the ECA website, as well as placement at the 2018 National Conference. Click here for more information on sponsorship opportunities.

We can’t believe we are almost half way through this year! The Customer Service team has been very productive thus far: updating systems, training new staff, checking over our procedures (updating where necessary), managing memberships, subscriptions and ECA Learning Hub enquires. We are now getting ready for the 2018 ECA National Conference registrations.

We have also been working on a new application to sell ECA products at our various events. It was tested at the recent ECA Reconciliation Symposium, and we can report that it was very successful.

Australian Capital Territory

ECA ACT held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in March. We are pleased to congratulate the new Branch committee for 2018–19: Sandy Leitch, Sarah Wilcox, Julie Rutups, Vanessa Whelan, Robby McGarvey, Rowena Muir, Sandra Page, Michelle O’Sullivan, Jessica Smith, Louise Marootians and Susan Foy. Another amazing group of experienced early childhood educators and advocates to work together to support the rights of children and families across the ACT.

The AGM included the ACT Branch’s second Ethics in Action workshop, focusing on using the ‘Practice Tool’ templates in our everyday practices.

New South Wales

ECA NSW held a successful Annual General Meeting (AGM) with Megan Mitchell, National Children’s Commissioner, as guest speaker. Megan was inspirational as she spoke about the rights of the child and her advocacy work for all children.

The NSW branch would like to congratulate Carol Burgess, who was re-elected as the President of ECA NSW.

ECA NSW is providing six scholarships to help educators attend the 2018 ECA National Conference, Be the difference for children and families, in Sydney this September. The scholarships will support educators from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds, as well as educators from regional and
remote communities.

Our Far North Coast regional group hosted its annual conference, which was a continued success, despite the attendance being slightly lower than previous years. This year’s keynote speaker was Maria Aarts, founder of Marte Meo. Congratulations to the conference committee whose hard work made it a successful conference. The committee is looking to establish another way to present the conference in 2019 by surveying the needs of the local members.

ECA NSW Mid North Coast hosted a regional symposium: Celebrate, Collaborate and Innovate, bringing together 60 early education professionals to facilitate discussions focused on fostering children’s emotional wellbeing and resilience, supporting the health and wellbeing of educators and building networks within the region. Nikki Buchan and Thea O’Connor, as keynote speakers, initiated thought-provoking discussions. Attendees had the opportunity to discuss and share their own experiences of practice, and collaboratively discuss ideas for future practice and pedagogy. Participants gained valuable connections with other ECA members within the region, and were excited about continuing these connections via our regional ECA network.

Northern Territory

ECA NT has had the pleasure of hosting two special guests during the last quarter: Professor Jacqueline Barnes (Director of the Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues, UK) and Professor Edward Melhuish (Professor of Human Development at the University of Oxford, UK; and a Visiting Professor at the University of Wollongong). Professor Barnes spent the day working with ECA NT staff in a focused conversation around aspects of her work and its practical application by the inclusion professionals working in services. Professor Melhuish and Professor Barnes also teamed up as guests for an
ECA NT Members and Friends network meeting. It was a most lively and enlightening evening, enjoyed by more than 50 educators, teachers and academic staff from across the Northern Territory.

ECA NT has recently been announced as the Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) service partner for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in the Darwin, Litchfield and Palmerston regions. This is an exciting time for ECA NT as it gears up to deliver ECEI services to children from birth to six years. It will officially kick off in August. The NDIS is expected to support more than 6500 people in the Northern Territory, when it is fully implemented in 2020.
ECA NT also continues to deliver the Australian Government Inclusion Programme across the Northern Territory.

Queensland

At the ECA Queensland Branch this quarter, we were very busy putting together our events for the Under Eights Week in May. We had many people from the early childhood sector view our Under Eights webpage and sign on to let us know what they did for the week. There were celebrations galore from Far North to our southern borders with NSW.

The theme of our week was ‘Children Exploring Language and Culture’. The Education Department walked by our side to support this week by putting on a ‘Romp in the Park’ for approximately 3000 people!

The Toowoomba sub-branch (new to our Queensland Branch) hosted a networking event ‘200 Voices of Children’, which was presented by Professor Bev Fluckiger, Associate Professor Judy Dunn and Dr Madonna Stinson. It was a very stimulating presentation, capturing children’s thoughts and ideas.

The Annual General Meeting was held on 30 May 2018, and we spent the evening networking over wine and canapés, and enjoying the presentation by Queensland University of Technology’s Professor Ann Farrell on ‘Global meets local: Leadership in the changing contexts of early childhood’.

There’s much more planned for the second half of the year, with our Reconciliation Action Plan Working Party, and two seminars for more remote areas of Queensland.

If you are interested in joining our branch, please get in touch to find out more. We have great people to network and work with, for better advocacy for our young children, and support for our sector in general.

South Australia

Our Executive Committee of 16 members continues to strengthen as a group, as we consolidate our advocacy work in building understandings across our society and the early childhood sector to realise the potential of every child. The ECA SA Branch committee has worked collaboratively to give feedback on a number of documents including:

• the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) National review of teacher registration
• ECA discussion paper on the Statement on young children and digital technology
• the SkillsIQ draft on Children’s education and care industry skills forecast.

At the University of South Australia’s Scholarships, Prizes, Awards and Grants Ceremony 2018, ECA SA’s Melanie Crabb was awarded the Early Childhood Australia (SA Branch) Prize for her contribution to education and care in the early years. Melanie, in her acceptance of this prize, said: ‘As a mature-aged student, I always considered it a privilege to be studying my Bachelor of Education at University, and view the effort I put into my degree as a sign of respect to the children that I would be teaching in the future. I am looking forward to what the future holds for me in my teaching career’. We extend our best wishes to Melanie as she continues her professional journey.

In May, ECA CEO Samantha Page and members of the Executive Committee met with the Minister for Education, Hon. John Gardner, to formally introduce ourselves and begin building our relationship with him. In our advocacy role for young children, we are keen to work with the minister in the implementation of the State Plan for Early Childhood Education and Care under the new government and his leadership.

During National Reconciliation Week 2018, our Executive Committee committed to supporting the  ECA Reconciliation Action Plan by researching something of significance in the local area, and presenting this information throughout the year at either the Executive Committee meetings or Branch events. A number of members attended the film screening of ‘After the Apology’, a documentary on the removal of Aboriginal children which was screened around the country.

Tasmania

ECA Tasmania Branch is actively involved with several government committees to ensure that the voice of our members is heard and that children are at the centre of some important government decisions and policy changes.

Our position paper in relation to the Draft Policy to guide co-location of ECEC and Department of Education Services was presented to the government and, as a result, we have seen a change in the direction of this policy. ECA has two representatives on the Stronger Partnerships working group, and has been actively advocating for an improved understanding of the issues faced by outside school hours care and long day care services on school sites. We will continue to work closely with the government to ensure that any policy decision is in the best interests of children in our state.

ECA is also actively involved in the design and implementation of the ‘Working Together for Three-Year-Olds’ initiative. Commencing in 2020, the initiative will ensure that disadvantaged three-year-old children get free access to 10 hours per week of approved education and care, for 40 weeks per year. This is a bold move by the Tasmanian Government. It is aimed at bridging the gap and enabling access to early education for children from vulnerable families.

ECA Tasmania Branch, like all other branches across Australia, is concerned about the Budget announcement and the lack of continued funding for the National Partnership Agreement and the National Quality Agenda. We have written to Minister Simon Birmingham and our State Minister for Education and Training, Jeremy Rockliff, as well as our Premier, Will Hodgman, urging them to re-instate the government’s commitment to the National Partnership Agreement as well as continue financial support to state and territory governments, so that they can undertake the regulatory requirements that ensure quality education and care for Tasmania’s children.

Victoria

Code of Ethics Forum

Almost a year after the publication of Ethics in Action, we at ECA Victoria recently hosted our Code of Ethics Forum. Attendees were engaged in conversation about ethics in everyday practice: what they have experienced, what the great ethical issues are on a day-to-day basis, and what we understand to be the right thing to do. As early childhood education fights for a place in the national political agenda, educators are grappling with daily decisions that shape the ethical dimensions of our profession. Some of the issues discussed included: The place of food in play; Gender and sexuality in ECEC curriculum; What is an authentic assessment?; Are graduation ceremonies okay?; and Should we alert children to the political issues of our time? 

Regional Network Meeting in Ballarat 

We recently hosted our second Regional Network Meeting in the regional town of Ballarat. It was an open-door, drop-in evening of informative discussion and information-sharing on local issues in ECEC. Members and non-members from Ballarat and surrounding areas shared their challenges, successes, what’s current in their community and what’s happening more broadly in the ECEC sector. The ECA Victoria Branch Committee would like to extend our appreciation and sincere thanks to our regional friends in and around the Ballarat region for their attendance and participation.

Western Australia

The ECA WA Branch proudly hosted the 2018 ECA Reconciliation Symposium. The two-day symposium was a joint initiative by our branch and national office, along with Reconciliation Australia. The event drew together leaders and supporters of Aboriginal communities from across the country. They generously shared their stories and learnings. Described by some as the most influential professional event that they had attended, educators shared their reconciliation journeys and learnt from each other, as they explored what actions they could take in their services, schools and communities.

The work on a WA Play Strategy took a major step forward in April, as the first meetings of the new multi-agency steering committee took place. With more than 3000 individuals and agencies now endorsing the need for a Play Strategy, the WA Branch and partners on the committee are working towards the development of the strategy. ECA members, including Dr Sandra Hesterman, have been discussing play across the media in WA, gaining great exposure for discussions on learning through play.

Some of the most popular branch activities included the great discussions we have hosted. These are opportunities to work with sector leaders on key issues in education and care. These are the features of our calendar for the balance of the year, and will be featured on the ECA WA Branch Facebook page.

With the new Child Care Subsidy (CCS) due to come into from July 2, 2018, ECA is continually engaging with the government on details of implementation, including a submission in regards to the new In Home Care arrangements. Childcare providers should have started enrolling themselves as a provider on the government’s Provider Digital Access (PRODA) system, in preparation of the online transition to the new CCS system in April this year.

Requirements for reporting on children’s physical attendance at the centre will be included in the new CCS scheme. While third party software providers are likely to include this functionality, it will be important for services to consider how they are going to capture this data.

The New Year also started with a flurry of early childhood announcements. The Report on Government Services (RoGS) for Early childhood education and care (ECEC) was released on 1 February, and on 3 February, Minister for Education and Training, Simon Birmingham announced a $440 million funding boost to the National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education, which delivers preschool education to children in the year before school. However, there was no indication whether the government is considering extending that access to two years before school.

Hot on the heels of the RoGS report came the Lifting our Game report, which made a call for Australian governments to ‘progressively implement universal access to 600 hours per year of a quality early childhood education program, for example a preschool program, for all three year olds, with access prioritised for disadvantaged children, families and communities’. Written by Susan Pascoe AM and Professor Deborah Brennan, the report was commissioned and released by all state and territory governments, and provides a sound analysis of what is required to improve Australian children’s access to high quality ECEC.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is yet to make a decision on extending preschool access to two years before school, but there will likely be more debate in the year ahead about what is needed and how governments can step up to provide it.

Over summer, ECA was mentioned in 86 broadcast items and over 148 print and online stories that reached more than five million views. The biggest print story was an article in The Sunday Telegraph about literacy in early childhood quoting our CEO, Sam Page, and other spokespeople from the National Early Language and Literacy coalition. It ran in 33 syndicated papers—in print and online—with a reach of nearly two million. The biggest broadcast coverage came from ABC talk and news radio interviews with Sam in response to the release of the Federal Government’s RoGS and Lifting our Game reports. There were 56 items in ABC national, metropolitan and regional programs around the country.

See our media releases on the reports, here.

The ECA Shop has also had an eventful summer, with ECA’s annual Season Sale featuring discounts for all of our top bestsellers. If you’ve missed out, don’t worry. ECA members receive special discounts on ECA publications and on a huge selection of quality-assured titles. You just need to login to your account when visiting the ECA Shop to be entitled.

We also received a great response to our much-anticipated Ethics in Action: A practical guide to implementing the ECA Code of Ethics. This easy-to-use publication is suitable for all educators, managers and childhood professionals caring for children from birth to 12 years of age. You can order your copy here.

A popular resource over the holiday season was the 2018 Early years daily planner. This latest version has a practical layout that includes ample writing space for recording reflections, notes, meetings, focus areas, interactions and learning experiences. This best-selling resource is a must-have for educators and teachers in the early years. Stock is currently very limited—get your copy here.

Our social media team remained busy with more than 98 000 followers on Facebook, and reaching more than three million people on our social media channels. Please come and join the conversation here! Some of our recent activities include:

– an infographic highlighting ‘8 ways to take care of yourself’
– a new Facebook group named ‘ECA Leadership’—exclusively for participants completing the ECA Leadership Program
– video previews from ECA Learning Hub’s new modules, Routines and transitions: Embracing opportunities for learning and Visual art and creativity in your curriculum
– eight articles on ECA’s blog, The Spoke—two exceptional blog pieces were ‘Play-based learning can set your child up for success at school and beyond’ and ‘Australia Day—it’s time to change’; if you’d like to write for The Spoke, please have a look at our blog guidelines and send us your article ideas
– celebrating International Mother Language Day on all our social media channels.

We are continuously on the lookout for new, engaging content. Please let us know if you have a blog or a video you would like to get featured on our social media platforms.

Also, don’t miss your opportunity to register for the ECA Reconciliation Symposium 2018. This year we will be hosting it in Fremantle, WA, on 11 and 12 May 2018. Register now!

The year started very well for the ECA Studio and Publishing team, with work progressing on the new series of ECA publications for the year, as well as a broad range of print and online materials for ECA, and design and editing services for our external clients. We have also been busy developing materials for the upcoming ECA events planned for 2018.

The next issues of each of our ECA publications include:

– Every Child magazine: Wellbeing (Vol. 24 No. 1 2018)
– Research in Practice Series: Helping children with difficult things by Pam Like (Vol. 25 No. 1 2018)
– Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (Vol. 43 No. 1 2018).

To help support your professional learning, ensure you don’t miss out on receiving each issue of ECA’s core publications, all of which are available through publication subscriptions—each title is published four times a year, with discounted prices for ECA members. Subscribe today with a one-, two- or three-year subscription to receive titles that cover a range of topics, including: exploring science in early childhood, sleep, wellbeing, learning to read, cultural competence and reconciliation. Thank you to our current subscribers, as your subscription supports ECA’s advocacy for young children.

Did you know? ECA’s Research in Practice Series provides practical, easy to read, up-to-date information and support for early childhood educators. The books bring together the best information available on wide-ranging topics, and are an ideal resource for children’s services, educators and others interested in the care and education of young children. To find out more about the series, click here to view a sample of The Circle of Security: Roadmap to building supportive relationships.

Did you know? ECA’s Everyday Learning Series is aimed at early childhood educators, students of early education, beginning practitioners, parents, grandparents and carers. This series provides wonderful suggestions about how to create positive learning environments for young children, by ‘making the ordinary extraordinary’. To find out more about the series, click here to view a sample of Children’s rights: Every day and everywhere Book 1.

KidsMatter Early Childhood has started 2018 with a bang—there are more events for educators to get started, and more opportunities to learn and network with the KidsMatter team and other educators across the nation. Remember, you will always find us, our online learning community and our great resources for professional learning and sharing with families on Facebook too!

The extra activity the KidsMatter team members are busy undertaking is in preparation for the launch of the National Education Initiative in August 2018. ECA is an implementation partner alongside headspace in the National Education Initiative being led by beyondblue. The initiative aims to support the mental health of children and young people from the day they enter Australian ECEC until the end of Year 12.

Participating in KidsMatter Early Childhood is a great way for early learning services and schools to prepare for all that the National Education Initiative has to offer.

The KidsMatter Early Childhood Rapid Review research described KidsMatter Early Childhood as ‘a highly successful model of online professional learning’, which should continue to be promoted to the early childhood sector and expanded to reach even more services, including those in diverse settings. Today, over 750 early learning services and schools are participating in the initiative. Their communities are enjoying the mental health and wellbeing benefits … but there is still room for more services to get started!

To find out what is involved and how to get KidsMatter started at your place with three easy steps, watch the KidsMatter Essentials, an on-demand webinar with your team. Then register your service or school  and book to attend a ‘Getting Started’ event. Your team will walk away from the event with two professional learning topics well under way.

See you online!

The ECA Learning Hub team worked on enhancing the ECA Learning Hub and website. This has included mapping many of our courses to the National Quality Standard (NQS) as well as the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. We are also in the final stages of transition over to the latest version of our Learning Management System. We are very excited about this transition and the new features it will offer our learners.

New features include:

– personalised account page with a photograph
– ‘External training records’ tab that allows learners and services to record additional qualifications and professional learning activities—this can include recent ECA events or online courses
– new reporting functions
– the ability to download detailed transcripts of all completed professional learning.

New NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) endorsed courses

ECA Learning Hub is endorsed to provide NESA Registered Professional Development for teachers accredited at Proficient Teacher level in New South Wales.

Twelve more courses have been added to the ECA Learning Hub’s NESA Registered course list, which includes the 11 existing NESA Registered courses you can already access. Have a look at the NESA Registered Professional Development page on the ECA Learning Hub website.

Leadership Program

ECA has created a closed Facebook group specifically for ECA Leadership Program participants, with the hope of encouraging discussion and engagement around leadership. It’s a place to share achievements, findings or opportunities as you progress through the program. The Facebook group is not replacing the ‘online forum’ on the website. It is simply an additional tool for offering more flexible options to connect you with peers and early childhood professionals interested in leadership.

The ECA Leadership Program recently released a new webinar, which will be made available free to all ECA Leadership Program participants. The webinar, ‘Let’s talk: Creating a culture of learning—places of teaching and learning for everyone’, features Anne Stonehouse AM and Michelle Gujer.

New professional learning

On demand webinars

– ‘Spatial reasoning and STEM for early years’ by Dr Kym Simoncini (from the 2017 Live Wires Forum)
– ‘Let’s talk: Creating a culture of learning—places of teaching and learning for everyone’ by Anne Stonehouse and Michelle Gujer
– ‘Seven myths about young children and digital technology: Where we are in 2017’ by Professor Lydia Plowman (2017 Live Wires Forum keynote address).
– ‘Anti-bias approaches in early childhood’ by Dr Red Ruby Scarlet 

Learning modules

– ‘Supporting language development in the early years’ by Christine Andell.
– ‘Understanding behaviour: Supporting children with Autism Spectrum Disorder’ by Autism Queensland

Coming soon

– Webinar: ‘Settling multiple children in ECEC settings’ by Cindy Davenport (March 2018)
– Module: ‘Documenting and assessing children’s learning, Part II’ by Clarendon Children’s Centre.

Early Learning: Everyone Benefits has several new sponsors and a new prospectus to explain the campaign to potential supporters. We are planning to invite MPs to services in the middle of the year. We reached 10 000 Facebook followers by mid-February, achieving a growth of about a thousand followers per month. Our strongest month was January, where we recorded more than half a million views and almost a million impressions from 40 posts, with 31 000 engagements. Our most popular posts were those giving practical advice on behaviour and emotional management, with strong graphics; for example, this post on ‘10 things to say instead of stop crying’.

All ECA members are encouraged to join the campaign—sign up here. And don’t forget to like the Facebook page to access and share great tips and stories about the importance of early education.

AJEC Research Symposium

The 2018 AJEC Research Symposium was held in Brisbane at Queensland University of Technology on 16 and 17 February—held as a two-day, standalone event for the first time. It was very successful, attracting over 150 delegates from around Australia.

We heard many thought-provoking presentations over the two days of the symposium, including a look into international keynote speaker Helen May’s advocacy and activism in New Zealand and across the world. Australian keynotes David Ansell and Professor Ann Farrell delivered informative and intriguing presentations that outlined policy, global trends and the path moving forward, while ensuring our research has an impact.

The roundtable format allowed delegates to have more in-depth conversations around the methods and findings of the research. Delegates were able to forge new friendships and research partnerships while discussing the many high-quality presentations on offer at the AJEC Research Symposium.

Reconciliation Symposium 2018

The ECA Reconciliation Symposium 2018 will be held from 11–12 May 2018 in Fremantle, WA. Registration is now open, with prices starting from $554 per person. The 2018 event will be led by Catharine Hydon and Jo Goodwin. This will be your opportunity to explore reconciliation and make a difference within your early years setting. Register today!

Early Childhood Australia National Conference 2018

Be the difference for children and families is the theme for ECA’s 2018 National Conference to be held in Sydney from 19 to 22 September. This event will bring people together to recognise the impact of high-quality early childhood education on the lives of young children and their families, as well as the importance of investing in ongoing professional development for educators, teachers and sector leaders.

The conference will explore current and emerging practice, showcase professional development resources and facilitate deep reflective thinking. It will also be a terrific opportunity to network with peers, meet with leading suppliers and see the latest technology available to support early childhood service delivery. Register today to secure a spot at the early bird rate!

Sponsorship of the ECA National Conference is a great way to promote your organisation/business to the early childhood sector. ECA will ensure that your investment is worthwhile, with many direct and indirect benefits for your business or organisation. Sponsorship will allow you to promote your products and services to reach the early childhood education and care sector, demonstrating commitment and support for service providers and educators. A range of promotional opportunities are available, including branding in printed conference material and on the ECA website, as well as placement at the ECA National Conference 2018. Click here for more information.

2018 started off well, and busier than expected, with renewals and customer queries. Work  is underway on the ECA Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and we look forward to seeing exciting system changes soon. New Application Programming Interfaces are also being created to support the CRM and other ECA-related products. We are also continuing to strengthen our internal processes and procedures.

Australian Capital Territory

Following the initial launch of Ethics in Action in October 2017, the ECA ACT Branch invited members and ECEC advocates across the ACT to a follow-up session during our AGM on 16 March 2018.

The ECA ACT Branch also welcomes the Lifting our Game report—commissioned by state and territory governments—which calls on Australian governments to increase their investment in early education and extend universal preschool access to three-year-old children.

The report lends itself to opportunities for exploring further discussion across the ACT ECEC community, and to Yvette Berry’s (ACT Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development) Early Childhood Advisory Council for advising on the development of the Early Childhood Strategy and Future of Education.

The full report, including recommendations, can be found here.

New South Wales

The ECA NSW Branch has reconvened for the year with an abundance of enthusiasm, with lots of activities planned for the month. The NSW executives and regional representatives met with members on 15 March for a Conversations Evening in Penrith. The guest speaker for the evening was Professor Deborah Brennan, who spoke about her newly released report, Lifting our Game, which she co-authored with Susan Pascoe. It was a review to achieve educational excellence in Australian schools through early childhood interventions.

The Far North Coast Regional conference is also just around the corner. This annual event, held at Kingscliff, is expecting to host over 300 attendees. This year’s keynote speaker is Maria Aarts, founder of Marte Meo. The conference will feature a Friday Masterclass with Maria, followed by a full-day conference on Saturday 24 March 2018.

The NSW Branch is working closely with the events team, based in the national office, to ensure that the ECA National Conference 2018 is informative and entertaining for all members. A selection of tours have been organised to ensure conference delegates have the opportunity, if they wish, to visit a variety of early childhood services in the Sydney region.

Northern Territory

Much is happening in the Early Childhood Australia scene both at the National and Territory level.

ECA NT Branch is beginning a new strategic plan cycle and supporting members will be a focus alongside our work in advocacy, professional development and inclusion support. Members’ meetings will be pivotal to this focus and will be a place where members can engage in some ‘big idea’ conversations as well as learn about and have a say on local and national matters. The value of these conversations is in the challenge to think in new ways and to promote a positive environment of inquiry and support. Remember that these conversations count toward your professional learning. The first Members’ Network meetings for 2018 will be in Darwin on Wednesday, 4 April and Alice Springs on Tuesday, 17 April.

It is pleasing to see that the Education Minister, Simon Birmingham has announced a National Review of Teacher Registration in order to ensure that registration processes are nationally consistent and focus on teacher quality. ECA NT will continue to advocate that Early Childhood Teachers employed in the day care sector are eligible for full registration in the Northern Territory.

The ECA NT President, Sarah Lloyd and myself recently participated in a national forum organised by ECA national to discuss the ‘Lifting our Game’ Report. Stakeholders from across the country including representatives from public education, private education, early childhood education and care, local government, academia, Indigenous services and SNAICC participated.  It was a very useful discussion, which identified a number of commonalities and highlighted a range of issues related to policy, funding and practice that as a collective we need to be conscious of as we move the discussion forward.

Permanently investing in two years of high quality early childhood education for every child is the wisest decision any government could make for the immediate and long term outcomes of each child.  Achieving this objective must be underpinned by sound investment in the early childhood workforce, and an acknowledgement of the continuing and significant contribution that educators at all qualification levels make. To value every child, we need to value every educator.

ECA has issued a media statement supporting the recommendations of theLifting Our Game Report. A more detailed policy paper will be published in the near future.

South Australia

The new ECA SA Branch Executive Committee met in January to plan our focus for the year ahead. We used the ECA National Strategic Plan 2017–2020 to organise our direction, and will continue to fine-tune and write up our own plan in the coming months to share with our members.

Advocacy

The committee reiterated our commitment to the promotion of the rights and wellbeing of all young children.  Part of that work includes critically reviewing and providing feedback on current policy, legislation and papers. We recently gave written responses on:

– a report by the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on Children and Students with Disability—highlighting the principles of effective professional learning for the team of educators and support officers working with children and students on the Autism Spectrum
– draft 1 of Children’s Education and Care skills training package products via the Feedback Forum facilitated by Skills IQ.

In preparation for the state election on 17 March  2018, the ECA SA Branch invited professionals who work with children between the ages of birth and eight years to attend a special State Election Forum to consider matters of interest relating to the care and education of young children. Over 60 professionals attended the session. Tom Richardson, SA columnist with InDaily, kindly facilitated the evening. Minister Susan Close (Labor), John Gardner MP (Liberal), Tammy Franks MLC (Greens) and James Sadler, candidate for Morialta (SA Best), attended the session. They each presented their position on education and care, after which responses were given to the questions raised by our members and colleagues.

Reconciliation

The 10th anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations was marked on 13 February 2018. A table of friends attended a breakfast organised by Reconciliation SA to honour the survivors. Ali Cobby Eckermann’s* poetry was the highlight of the day. Here is some reflection from the morning:

This was my first Apology breakfast and [I] was moved to tears several times; seeing and hearing the rawness of people’s pain and memories. Hearing the personal poetry of Ali Cobby Eckermann was extremely moving (Kate).

Thank you for the opportunity to attend the Apology breakfast …  my two staff members, who are working on our Centre’s RAP, [and I] were deeply moved throughout the breakfast. Ali Cobby Eckermann’s speech and beautiful emotive poetry w[ere] the highlight of the breakfast for me. The pain that she expressed moved me to tears, and I was deeply sorry for the anguish that she and her family ha[ve] been through. It made me reflect on the power of our words and the hurt that thoughtlessness can inflict. I cannot begin to imagine the thought of having my children removed from me, I cannot imagine being taunted and punished for the colour of my skin. The Timpilya (Music Stick) ceremony was very emotional but signalled a time of healing and working together. I enjoyed hearing about the paintings on the sticks and their significance (Trish).

*Ali Cobby Eckermann (born 1963) is an Australian poet of Indigenous Australian ancestry. She is a Yankunytjatjara/Kokatha woman born on Kaurna land in South Australia. Ali is a survivor of the Stolen Generations, as was her mother before her.

Reconciliation SA developed this pledge:

1. We honour the Survivors of the Stolen Generations and pledge continued support for them. Today we remember the National Apology that named their pain, hurt and suffering. In the coming year, we will acknowledge Survivors’ stories, advocate for the journey of Healing and support a just settlement for them.
2. We recognise the hurt that also occurred for the descendants and extended family members of the Stolen Generations. We also promise to act on their stories and find ways to put the meaning of the Apology into practice.

As members of Reconciliation SA, the ECA SA branch endeavours to take this pledge into our community so together we continue to support the journey to healing.

Queensland

Our planning for the ‘Under Eights Week’ has officially started. We want to talk to everyone who may be interested in joining our branch teams, especially in Brisbane, Toowoomba, Townsville, Cairns and Rockhampton. This week is of great importance to all in our sector, educating and caring for children from birth to eight years of age. It is the coming together of children, families, teachers and friends to heighten the understanding of early childhood and to promote the importance of the early years. This year’s theme is ‘Children exploring language and culture’.

Across the state there will be several key events run by ECA Queensland (Qld.) and our Education Department, which has generously committed funds for another year, as well as Jay Laga’aia (presenter of the iconic show, Play School) who will be seen out and about throughout our state. Jay is working hard to promote this week. Please visit and like our ‘Under Eights’ Website. Tell us what activities are going to happen in your local area and see what is happening in others. There is the chance to win prize money for each region by sharing your event with us. Find out more on our Facebook page, here.

We invite everyone to be a part of a week that has been celebrated as a grand event for the past 61 years. Let’s make this the best one ever!

The ECA Queensland Branch Early Years sub-committee started its meetings this year in Brisbane. Any ECA member who would like to find out more about the meeting dates and proposed activities for the Early Career group for 2018 should please email the branch. One of our members presented an overview of the advocacy work the Early Career sub-committee is involved in an advocacy group, and invited them to join the group. A network group is also being established in Townsville.

Tasmania

The ECA Tasmania Branch has had a busy start to 2018.

In December 2017, the Department of Education (DoE) released a draft policy on the co-location of ECEC services on school sites. The policy was of great concern to our members who operate outside school hours care and long day care services on school sites. In response to the draft policy, ECA recently held two forums across the state to gain member inputs, which were incorporated into a position paper that has been presented to the DoE. We will continue to work closely with the government to ensure that any policy decision is in the best interest of children in our state.

We also held a state-wide meeting on 21 February 2018, where the Minister for Education and Training, Jeremy Rockliff; Shadow Minister for Education, Michelle O’Byrne; and the Tasmanian Greens’ Spokesperson for Education and Training,  Andrea Dawkins, spoke to members about their parties’ policies and their commitments to the education and care sector. After their presentations, members had the opportunity to ask the panel questions. ECA members were able to lobby all political parties to ensure that the education and care sector does not get ignored in election promises or from future funding for education in Tasmania.

We look forward to continuing our advocacy work through representation on a number of DoE and government committees and working groups.

Victoria

ECA Victoria Branch held its annual Planning Day on Friday 2 February 2018 in the beautiful location of the Abbotsford Convent. The day was divided into two parts. The first part focused on strategy. Janet Williams Smith (Director, Service Development and Strategy, Early Childhood Management Services [ECMS]) led the discussion, and the group developed three main themes for the Victorian Branch plan, emanating directly from the National Strategic Plan. The Victorian focus will be on advocacy, membership and sustainability. Once the plan has been completed, we will share it with the other branches and members.

The second part of the day focused on operational matters as we planned our forums for the year. It was recognised that it will be a busy year politically, with the state election being held on 24 November 2018. Given the success of the South Australian Election Forum, consideration is being given to holding a similar event in Victoria.

Department of Education and Training (DET) has also asked us to partner with it, as well as Early Learning Association Australia (ELAA) and the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), to host a forum in June 2018 for over 1000 early childhood stakeholders. The forum will aim to improve community awareness of the benefits of high-quality early childhood services and help build momentum for future policy reform in the early years. The event will provide a platform to explore established and emerging early childhood evidence and opportunities for future reform.

All in all, a busy start to the year! The ECA Victoria Branch committee is enthusiastic and geared up for hard work, and we look forward to sharing news about our activities as the year progresses.

Western Australia

The ECA WA Branch launched into the year with an energy-filled strategic planning session. On our ‘to do’ list is the ECA Reconciliation Symposium 2018, a project that committee members have jumped into with passion; the work to forward the incredible Play Strategy, promoting play in the  early years; and developing a new set of branch infrastructure that will support our busy year of events, projects and programs.

Our committee members are committed to recruiting and supporting new members and ensuring they have the rich networking and learning experiences that will support their work with children and families, and will guide their career development. We will keep our members up-to-date through our popular Facebook page and through emails and networks.