Update from NIFTeY meeting

I attended the NSW National Investment in the Early Years meeting this morning and thought I would provide an update of what's happening in Early Childhood Education and Care Sector.

Tonia Godhard reported on yesterday's meeting of key stakeholders with the new minister Adrian Piccoli.
The key points were:
- the sector now falls under the Department of Education
- the department will not be using the term 'child care' but rather Early Childhood Education and Care in recognition of this move.
- there will be a clear separation from child protection
- there will be no pushdown curriculum from the schools
- the separate Directorate for Children's Services will be headed by John Mason (who reports to Lesley Loble, Deputy Director-General Strategic Planning and Regulation).
-Department of Education preschools will remain under the Education Directorate
- the Minister is committed to the National Quality Framework but is concerned about the current reliability and validity of the tools.
- He also is committed to the 1 to 4 babies ratio and the introduction of 1 to 5 for 2-3 year olds as scheduled in NQS
- for preschools, he is aware of problems with RAM funding model and affordability and will establish a departmental review. He advised preschools to enroll for 2012 as they normally would as changes will not occur til 2013
- the teacher contribution scheme will commence in July but may not be ongoing.
- he is aware the sectors concern regarding the lack of consultation and is committed to improving this.

Other matters raised:

Children's Week
- will soon have a website up and running (will provide link when have it)
- as the trademark is now registered, it will now be necessary to register your event if you want to use logo and title
- there will be promotional posters available on the website

Working with children checks
- we discussed the need to move to a national streamlined system.

The NIFTeY conference is coming in July - it has a great line up if you are able to make it. The link is http://www.nifteyconference.com/

The grandparent carer initiatives from the government
- there will be an introduction of peer support networks
- grandparent advisors in some centrelink offices
- high density of grandparent carers on coast
- grandparent care provision for children during the day is underrecognised
- I will provide links to a number of reports when distributed if anyone is interested in reading further.

National Commissioner for Children and Young People
- senate enquiry underway. Report due August

Cultural competence issues:
- Reconciliation week is this week
- NAIDOC week early July
- important to engage local aboriginal organisations and actively engage with the issues and the community
- there is also Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's day
- I will provide links to relevant websites when provided.

That the bulk of it and I will forward around the details for reports, websites and so on as soon as I have them.

A post about upcoming posts

Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending a Sydney University conference about the Early Years Learning Framework and the National Quality standards.

As a result, I have lots of excellent material that I plan on sharing with you over the next few weeks/months.

A broad summary of what I intend to write about for you...
- documentation within the context of the eylf so portfolios, observations, assessment and daily diaries
- ensuring that families are integrated into your practice
- language and literacy in the early years
- using popular characters e.g. Superheroes, barbie and Thomas in your practice - what the research is saying
- maths in the early years. This particular presentation was so fantastic I have enough for the whole year
- working together as a team to achieve the eylf outcomes
- how to use the reflect respect relate document
- how to demonstrate continuous quality improvement ( for this, I will also draw on my previous experience in hr)
- more about advocacy

Posted by Wendy

"we are the change we have been waiting for" - Barack Obama

Caring for (and paying) staff is just as important

I personally believe that you can not provide quality care if you do not provide a working environment where the staff are financially secure, recognised for their skills professionally, challenged intellectually and empowered.

Part of this is recognition that a vital part of convincing parents what is good about your centre is the fact that you look after your staff and provide working conditions that minimise their stress and enables recognition of their responsibilities which includes providing the staff with time (at work and paid for) to complete everything they need to get done.

Fortunately my new workplace is pretty much on board with this philosophy - so it is a vast improvement!

I think we are completely underestimating parents if we think they cant understand that we too need decent wages and conditions to work and be happy in our jobs (and the subsequent impact it has on their children and the care we can provide)  - as such I hope you all planning intensely on how you are going to participate in the IEU Teachers are Teachers Blue Day.

I know it will be much easier (hopefully) for those of you who work at council, community and not for profit centres because of higher union density and higher acceptance of workers right to organise so if you have any inspiration for our fellow teachers in the private sector I would love to hear your stories.

For those of us in private sectors, all we are asking for is a recognition of our education and skills its not unreasonable and all research points that early childhood teachers in long day care centres make a very significant impact on the quality of care for their children - and without adequate pay we will not remain in the sector leading to a continuation of the incredibly high turnover of staff which is unsettling for their children and everyone.

Don't be scared get up and fight for what you are entitled for!! its the only way change happens.

Getting our voices heard: Advocacy in Early Childhood

I attended the NSW Branch meeting for Early Childhood Australia this morning. It was a lovely 'yarn' (we decided after we managed to get off track a thousand times) with some great people with some fabulous ideas. Here's their website if you don't know them... http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

In particular, Melissa Smith worked us through some complex and challenging questions about developing a reconciliation action plan for the organisation. Melissa works both for CSU and DET and is very inspiring  http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/educat/teached/dubbo/staff/melissa_smith.html

But as I sat there talking to these women, I wondered to myself why are there only 7 of us here? Isn't Early Childhood Australia our peak professional body? How can we expect to drive change in the industry if none of us are actually willing to get involved?

Our industry still has a long way to - terms and conditions, recognition of training (or even the need for it), quality care plus a thousand other things and the only way this will change is through advocacy....

I know not everyone can commit time (or the money for memberships - but ECA and IEU memberships are a very good idea and you can claim it on tax) but there are other things we can all do.....
- get on board with 'teachers are teachers' campaign that is being run by the IEU - http://www.teachersareteachers.org.au/
- participate in online forums like the EYLF PLP
- talk to staff and families about the importance of quality education and care (and what that actually is)
- join other groups such as Social Justice for EC (its free and they do a great job). Here's their website http://www.socialjusticeinearlychildhood.org/ 
- sign up to blogs, emails, twitter feeds, and facebook pages about early childhood and get involved in the conversations that are happening - there are some great blogs out there have a look at my blog profile for some ideas if you don't know where to start

So that's my rant for the day and I'll try and paste another practical post tomorrow to balance it - sorry if you're not that kind of person but as my fellow uni grads know - I am the kind of person that likes to talk up and kick up a fuss ;) and find it so much fun you might enjoy it too!