Early Childhood Australia


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The latest early childhood news!

In this issue, a new campaign has been officially launched in Queensland to boost Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander enrolments in kindergarten; a major study has found that a growing number of parents are choosing to delay when their child starts school; and new research has found that children find it easier to spell a word when they’ve already heard it spoken. In other news, free parenting support is being made available to Victorian parents, grandparents, carers and rural families; and new funding has been received for the 'Real Treatment Study' program to test whether it can influence children’s exposure to ongoing behavioural issues at the genetic level. New resources include SNAICC’s training package, Stronger, Safer, Together—Intensive & Targeted Family Support; a suite of Child Safe eLearning packages from the New South Wales Office of the Children’s Guardian; and discover the sector's first Leadership Capability Framework in the ECA Leadership Program. Around the country, the Early Learning: Everyone Benefits campaign is inviting parents to participate in a short anonymous survey; the Reggio Children's The Hundred Languages of Children Exhibition will now be on display until October 2017; and the Australian Council for Educational Leaders 2017 Early Childhood Conference will take place in Brisbane on 2–3 August. And finally, we fill you in on the latest state and territory news.

Jump down to find out what the various ECA teams and projects have been up to and the new resources available for the early childhood sector.

Stronger, Safer, Together

SNAICC—National Voice for our Children is proud to launch its new resource guide and training package: Stronger, Safer, Together—Intensive & Targeted Family Support. This resource is a reflective practice toolkit for services that provides intensive and targeted support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, while addressing key practice issues and using a place-based approach. A two-day training workshop accompanies the resource guide.

Reading out loud

A new study led by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders at Macquarie University has found that children find it easier to spell a word when they’ve already heard it spoken. This research provides the first evidence towards understanding how oral vocabulary and learning to read are linked, and that by reading out loud to children you are actually helping them to learn about the spelling of words.

Child Safe eLearning

The New South Wales Office of the Children’s Guardian has launched a suite of Child Safe eLearning packages. Topics include: policies and procedures; risk management; and reporting allegations. Child Safe training has been highlighted as having an important role to play in keeping kids in institutions safe from abuse and neglect.

Reaching out to parents

The Early Learning: Everyone Benefits campaign would like to understand how parents and carers of children under five perceive the benefits and barriers of their children participating in quality early learning and care. Help us today by sharing this link and inviting parents and carers to complete this short anonymous survey.

Deadly Kindies

In Queensland, a new campaign has been officially launched to boost Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander enrolments in kindergarten. Launched at C&K Koobara Aboriginal and Islander Kindergarten in Zillmere, ‘Deadly Kindies’ is about giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children a better start to health and education.

Starting school

A major study from the School of Early Childhood at Queensland University of Technology has found that a growing number of parents are choosing to delay when their child starts school—holding children back until they turn six has almost doubled between 2010 and 2014. However, this decision is also causing these parents stress and anxiety.

ECA Leadership Program

The ECA Leadership Program is a strengths-based, self-directed, short-term program for both current and aspiring early childhood leaders in diverse settings. This program has embedded the sector's first Leadership Capability Framework, and has now been launched along with its new website. Sign up today!

Supporting Victorian families

Free parenting support is being made available to Victorian parents, grandparents and carers, and rural families. The six to 10 week program is based on workbook readings, online modules and is supported through weekly telephone calls with a qualified parent support worker.

ACEL 2017 Conference

The Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) 2017 Early Childhood Conference will take place in Brisbane on 2–3 August. This year’s theme, ‘Inform, Create, Realise’ will provide delegates with an opportunity to develop their professional knowledge. Click here to register or to find out more.


	Increased funding for behavioural study

	The 'Real Treatment Study: A Parenting Intervention for Child Conduct Problems' is a parenting program delivered over 10 weeks by the University of Sydney's Child Behaviour Research Clinic. New funding has been received for this successful, free program for children with behavioural problems to continue its delivery and test whether it can influence children's exposure to ongoing behavioural issues at the genetic level.


	The Hundred Languages of Children Exhibition

	Initially set to finish at the end of July, the Reggio Children’s The Hundred Languages of Children Exhibition will now be on display in Melbourne until October 2017. The Exhibition has been travelling the world for the past 35 years and documents the incredible capabilities of children as seen through the pedagogical journey of the infant toddler centres and preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy.


	In state and territory news ...

	Soon, almost half of all schools in Queensland will have safer access for students, thanks to the latest rollout of flashing school zone signs; in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the Minister for Police and Emergency Services Mick Gentleman has unveiled his key priorities for ACT Policing, including a focus on responding to domestic and family violence; applications have opened in Victoria for the $650 000 Indigenous Family Violence Strategy Community Initiatives Fund; Guild Insurance Limited has partnered with the Australian Childcare Alliance NSW to provide a workers’ compensation solution for early childhood education and care services across New South Wales; people in the Perth metropolitan area of Western Australia are being urged to consider a rewarding and selfless role as a foster carer; and amid decay in childhood dental rates, the South Australian State Government is urging parents to book their child in for a dental check-up using either the free School Dental Service or a private dentist.

Start Early modules

The ECA Learning Hub would like to thank everyone who registered and completed the ‘Start Early: Respectful relationships for life’ modules. The portal to access the modules is now closed. However, you will soon be able to access these modules via the ECA Learning Hub site, as part of an Annual Subscription. For more information, click here.

Get involved today

Australia’s future prosperity is linked to the collective investments we make in all of our children’s development. Everyone benefits when we support children in the early years. Sign up to the Early Learning: Everyone Benefits campaign to show your support and to stay updated with how we achieve change. Click here to sign up.

What's on next week?

Gather a few people from your team with an interest in wellbeing or continuous quality improvement in early childhood, and join the facilitators to get KidsMatter started at your place—after this experience, your KidsMatter professional learning and plans for sharing it across your workplace will be well underway! Click here to register today.

ECA has four core publications available as subscription packages for those working, studying or interested in the early childhood sector: Research in Practice Series; Everyday Learning Series; Every Child magazine; Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. Subscribe today to ensure you don’t miss any future issues!

Literacy blog

There are several practical things parents can do to encourage broad literacy and learning in the early childhood years, including sharing stories at mealtimes and talking about words children notice. Louise Phillips and Pauline Harris explore these ideas in their latest blog: How to encourage literacy in young children (and beyond).

Now open!

ECA is pleased to announce that the call for abstracts is now open for the 2018 AJEC Research Symposium. Held over 16–17 February 2018 at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, the theme for this new standalone event is ‘Politics, power and agency in early childhood education’. Submit your abstract here today!

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Early Childhood Australia disclaimer
The opinions expressed in the articles and external links are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Early Childhood Australia.

ECA WebWatch—Issue 264, July 2017.