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Why I didn’t feel guilty about sending my child to day care or preschool
Professional IdentityProfessor Adrian Piccoli shares his experience sending his children to early childhood education and care, this piece is an extract from his recently published book ‘12 ways your child can get the best out of school’. Professor Piccoli…

A change of heart as well as date
Reconciliation and Cultural ResponsivenessAs Australians rally together to support communities affected by bushfire, this year’s Australia Day feels marked by the compassion, heroism and generosity of the Australian spirit as we come together to mourn great losses and begin to heal.…

What is reconciliation?
Reconciliation and Cultural ResponsivenessNational Reconciliation Week (27 May–3 June) is a time for all Australians to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories, share that knowledge and help us grow as a nation. This year’s theme—‘Don’t…

Children’s right to play and its benefits
Pedagogy and CurriculumPlay. We think we all agree on what it is when we talk about it. But it has no agreed definition (Burghardt, 2011; Sutton-Smith, 1997), and unless we can describe what play is—and is not—we will struggle to describe how it leads to learning.…

Embracing inclusion—an educator’s experience
Inclusion and RightsDuring my time as an educator, the children in my group spanned across a three-year age range and hailed from 15 or more distinct cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Two were funded for educational support, one with an Autism Spectrum Disorder…

Reflection on the ECA Reconciliation Symposium
Reconciliation and Cultural ResponsivenessWhen the words of Kev Carmody’s and Paul Kelly’s song ‘From little things big things grow’ echoed across the room of 300 people at the conclusion of the ECA’s Reconciliation Symposium, I knew things had changed. Changed for ECA,…
