Early Education Show: Snapshots

Earlier this year, Liam was interviewed by Lecturer Kathrine Whitty for a video to her Masters students at the Australian Catholic University. It was an opportunity to discuss all things early education, including Liam's professional journey in the sector, and Kath and the ACU were kind enough to share the audio of the interview for the Early Education Show. 

We're back for a new fortnightly series! This week, we're tackling the Federal Government's Early Years Strategy. What is the context of this new strategy, and what do we think it should come up with?

We're back for a new fortnightly series! This week, we're tackling the Federal Government's Early Years Strategy. What is the context of this new strategy, and what do we think it should come up with?

We've been away for a while - but we couldn't let as big a year as 2022 pass without getting the gang back together.

The Federal Government has just released its Budget for 2021 and 2022, which - after sustained advocacy from a variety of people and organisations - includes increases in spending in many areas - including early education. But while billions of dollars are in the Budget papers, what is the devil in the detail? Joining us to break down Child Care Subsidy changes, universal preschool funding agreements and more red tape smashing, is the official fourth member of the podcast Karl Hessian!

There have been a spate of media articles recently concerning child sexual abuse linked to educators working in the early education sector. This episode, Lisa talks with Deanne Carson, a leading Australian sexuality educator, researcher, speaker, author and Founder and CEO of Body Safety Australia, on how educators and leaders can better ensure their spaces are safe for children.

Minister for Early Education in the Victorian Government, Ingrid Stitt MP, has been raising the alarm about continued uncertainty with the National Partnership on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education. Lisa chats with her about why this funding is so important, why the uncertainty creates so many challenges, and the reforms that the Victorian Government are putting in place with early education.

Under the National Quality Framework, professionals and services need to report a range of serious incidents to their regulatory authorities. But why don't we talk more about how services approach reporting and reporting behaviours with their teams? Leanne sits down with Big Fat Smile CEO Jenni Hutchins to discuss why a positive culture of reporting is so important.

In 2019, the second review of the National Quality Framework officially commenced. The Review aims to identify aspects of the NQF that could be improved or updated, and to incorporate new thinking about the regulation of early education. Earlier this year, the Consultation Regulation Impact Statement was released, which identifies options for changes to the NQF and what they might mean. There’s nothing we love more than a consultation process, so we spend this episode talking about the NQF Review in general, and a few things from the Regulation Impact Statement specifically.

We're back for another year of banter about all things early education in Australia! In our first episode of 2021, we let everyone know what we did on our summer holidays and reflect on the experiences of women that have been dominating the media so far this year. We then spend the second half of the episode discussing what about the sector makes us optimistic in 2021.

2020. We’re so glad you’re nearly over. Join us for our fifth annual end of year special episode, taking a look back at the year that was, looking ahead to 2021 and answering some listener questions.

The regular ACCS Trends in Community Children’s Services Survey sheds a light on trends in the quality of early education, accessibility and affordability, educator and teacher conditions and entitlements, and the overall impact of policy initiatives such as the NQF and the child care subsidy. It’s a wealth of data and analysis on how the Australian system of early education works - or doesn’t work - for children, educators, families and the community. To discuss the latest Survey Report released in November, we’re joined by Daniela Kavoukas and Nikki Graham from Community Child Care Association in Victoria.

Anti-bias approaches in early education are about centring equity, tackling bias and creating beautiful ethical learning experiences and environments with and for children in the early years. Now about to be released in its fourth edition, The Anti-Bias Approach in Early Childhood has been a key publication in the history of exploring diversity, identity and inclusion in Australia’s early education sector. To discuss the new edition of the Anti-Bias Approach, Lisa and Liam are joined by the book’s editor Dr Red Ruby Scarlet, and three of the book’s contributors - Tasha Huddy, Sharon Mathers and Rukmini Bose-Rhaman.

Family Matters has this week launched the Family Matters Report 2020, which examines how Australia is faring in improving the safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. To talk about this report, Liam is joined by Sue-Anne Hunter. Sue-Anne is a proud Wurundjeri woman, and National Chair for the Family Matters Campaign.

The Early Childhood Voices Conference is a free international multidisciplinary fully online conference about innovations in early education. International speakers will present research in a virtual online space about innovations to improve the lives of children, families and practitioners during early childhood or within the early childhood sector. It can be very difficult for early childhood professionals to access, or afford, high-quality professional development, so this is an excellent opportunity that we wanted to find out more about. So to do that, we’re joined by one of the lead organisers of the event, Dr Tamara Cumming, and four of the presenters who will be sharing their presentations during the Conference - Professor Sue Dockett, Professor Bob Perry, Professor Gail Gillon and someone who may be quite familiar to the listeners of the podcast, Leanne Gibbs!

Early education is currently enjoying a higher political profile than usual. The first COVID-19 lockdown back in March and April saw the Government investing in free early education - but only temporarily. The Federal Opposition has made funding changes to early education the centrepiece of this year’s Budget in Reply. Community calls for greater access to more affordable early education are increasing. Amidst all that, a new advocacy project is trying to promote more, and smarter, investment in early childhood outcomes. We’ve seen lots of different advocacy campaigns - can Thrive By Five change Australia’s early education sector?

While there is no limit to the kinds of resources and materials that can be used to support the learning of young children, it’s hard to argue that the most important of all is books. The research is clear that immersing children in pre-literacy experiences such as reading with a trusted adult has dramatically positive impacts for them throughout their lives. It’s been a heavy year for the early education sector, so we’re going with a lighter look at children’s books and ask - which children’s books should every early education service have? We also take a look at the recent Budget announcements from the Federal Government, and the Federal Opposition’s early education reform plans.

Australia’s early education sector is about children’s learning and wellbeing in the first five years. Educators and teachers have qualifications and training that are focused on children’s education. Yet, the sector also plays a largely unofficial role in supporting families. This could be as simple as providing resources on parenting, to much larger and more complex roles with families that are particularly struggling. But we know that the sector, and those that work in it, aren’t even given enough support to do the job they’re qualified for. This episode, we’re going to ask the question - should early education services even be supporting families?

Social media users in Australia are some of the most active in the world. 60% of the country are active users of Facebook, with 50% of the population logging on at least once a day. In Australia, there are 16 million Facebook users per month, 15.5 million YouTube users, 9 million Instagram users and 5.8 million Twitter users. With such widespread usage it is not surprising that the use of social media in the education and care sector is huge. But is the sector’s use of social media a force for good or not? We thought it was time we explored the positives and negatives of social media use in the sector.

A few weeks ago, we discussed the worsening COVID-19 situation in Victoria and how it was affecting services, children, families and professionals. Soon after we released that episode - things became even more intense. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declared a State of Disaster, and announced Australia’s toughest lockdown. Melbourne has effectively shut down, and early education services have once again faced a whole new world of policies and funding. Given these changes, we wanted to come back to Victoria and see what this new situation means for the sector there. We’re joined by Sarah Riches (CEO of ECIA VIC/TAS) and Sarah Louise (Associate at Semann & Slattery).

The COVID-19 pandemic has been described as a “spotlight” - shining a bright light and illuminating the existing inequalities in our societies. Early education is no exception. While services have been fighting to survive a complex maze of last-minute funding changes, the focus has had to be on funding and economics. But existing social justice concerns haven’t disappeared, and may in fact be getting worse. To discuss how COVID-19 has changed the landscape for social justice and the early education sector, Lisa, Leanne and Liam are joined by Dr Red Ruby Scarlet (activist, early childhood teacher-researcher, consultant, speaker, artist, academic, and Creative Director of Multiverse) and Stephen Gallen (early childhood consultant and Director of Cawongla Community Preschool).

After a first wave that affected the entire country in April and May, COVID-19 cases are now particularly affecting Victoria. The Melbourne area is in lockdown, and early education services are finding themselves back in a situation where they are having to balance health and safety, financial viability and an uncertain funding arrangement. While most of the sector is transitioning back to the Child Care Subsidy, many Victorian services are facing a much tougher battle.

Listen to three fantastic conversations that are part of the University of Wollongong Early Start’s Expert Insight series, facilitated by Leanne Gibbs. The discussions include: * Dr Gai Lindsay on children and the arts * Associate Professor Cathrine Neilsen-Hewett and Professor Marc de Rosnay on How to support children’s emotions when the world is changing * Dr Lyn Cronin on school transitions during COVID-19.

COVID-19’s impact on the early education sector has meant that we’ve been having advocacy conversations that we didn’t expect to be having in 2020. The Government implemented free early education - for a short time. Early childhood educators were seen as frontline workers - but not supported properly. Will this be a brief moment before we get back to normal, or have things changed for good? Australia has had lots of changes to our early education system before, thanks in no small part to advocates and feminists who pushed for fairer and more equitable policies and systems. What does that history tell us about what’s happening today? To discuss that question, Lisa and Liam are joined by one of Australia’s leading advocates for social reform - Eva Cox.

The Federal Education Minister has announced that CCS will be back on Monday July 13, along with a number of other new measures. From the Government’s perspective, the economy is getting back to normal, and the early education sector is first cab off the rank for “snapping back”. But the Government’s planned transition is complex and will require an already-strained sector to once again adjust to significant changes. What does this all mean for children, educators and families?

This episode, we’re bringing you the audio from an online Town Hall Meeting conducted by parent advocacy group The Parenthood on Tuesday the 26th of May. Lisa was invited to speak on the panel, alongside Danielle Wood, an economist from the Grattan Institute; Polly Dunning, a teacher and writer; and Jay Weatherill, the CEO of Thrive by Five. The event was hosted The Parenthood’s campaign director Georgie Dent, and tackled a variety of important questions - including how families have been affected by the funding changes to the sector, what free ECEC would mean for Australia, how educators and the sectors can be better valued, and what we all need to do to work together as advocates during this time.

Like the rest of Australia, the early education sector has had to significantly change the way we operate over the last two months. A lot of this time has been spent worrying about funding and financial security, but it’s also opened up opportunities for experimenting with new ways of working. This episode, we wanted to turn the conversation back to children and educators and hear from early education professionals about how children are responding to these changes. We’re bringing you a conversation with six people from the Northside Community Service team Liam works with, discussing the operational changes they’ve made and some of the unexpected results. That conversation is facilitated by psychologist and consultant Beth Macgregor.

Australia’s early education sector has been given a huge shake-up during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Child Care Subsidy system was replaced with a Government Relief Package that provided centres with 50% direct Government funding, and eliminated the usual gap fee paid by parents. In effect, children are now getting their early education for free. But the current funding system is short term and doesn’t fit all centres. This episode, we’re going to ask the question - how do we advocate for properly-funded, permanent, universal and free early education after COVID-19?

The COVID-19 health crisis continues to affect the entire world. Governments have had to respond to the effects of this crisis in different ways, as we have seen right here in Australia. For those of us who work in early education, we’ve seen some stark differences between how ECEC services and schools have been treated when it comes to health advice, closures, funding and more. This episode, we look at those differences, think about why they’ve appeared, and how we respond as advocates but during and after this crisis.

The COVID-19 health emergency has changed so much of our society, and for the early education sector has overturned almost everything about how we operate. Over the last 6 weeks we have seen an increased focus on infection control and hygiene practices, the sector nearly collapse as enrolments dropped, educators and teachers start to think about how to work with children remotely, and the Government implement a completely new funding model over a single weekend. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In this episode, we’re taking a step back, and taking a breath. We’re going to reflect on what this intense period of change has meant, what’s stood out for us, and what we’ve learned. To do this, we’re also joined by a special returning guest to the podcast - advocate, software developer and policy expert Karl Hessian.

“As of Sunday night, What we will be doing is turning off the old system and going to a new system.” Those were the words of the Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan earlier today, as he stood next to the Prime Minister Scott Morrison and announced wholesale and immediate changes to how Australia funds early education. It’s hard to underestimate what this will mean, but what we know is the sector has four days notice that the Child Care Subsidy system - which took over nearly 3 years to develop and legislate - will be gone, and a new system of direct Government funding of services will be in place on Monday. And the Conservative Prime Minister of this country stated that ECEC will be free.

The COVID-19 situation remains the biggest issue facing Australia’s early education sector. Although as we speak the Government is saying that early education services should remain open to support the economy, children are leaving services in droves. It seems likely that at some point services will be directed to close. What does this mean for young children and their learning? What does “remote learning” look like in the early years? How can we stay connected to children and families during a period of isolation?

Early education services and professionals have not had detailed advice from Health Departments or Education Departments about exactly what infection control processes services should be following during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak. As Leanne, Lisa and Liam are not infection control experts we decided to ask someone who is. Kylie Warren Wright is Goodstart Early Learning’s National Safe Work and Wellbeing Manager, and she’s responsible for giving health and safety advice to over 650 early education services. Lisa contacted her to discuss how we can stay healthy at work during a pandemic.

After an unprecedented summer of fire and smoke, communities around Australia are facing yet another emergency situation. Coronovirus, or COVID-19, is spreading around the world, with the World Health Organisation officially declaring it a pandemic. Although the risk to most people is minimal, countries - including Australia - are having to take significant steps to try and minimise its impact. These measures will have a big impact on early childhood services, and the children and families they work with. This episode, we’ll try to provide as much facts and clarity as we can about the situation we’re all facing.

Australia has just come out of a terrible summer of unprecedented bushfires. According to the Australia Institute, More than half of all Australians have been directly affected by bushfire crisis, including millions suffering health effects. This includes young children and their families, as well as educators and services. Entire communities will be dealing with this summer for years to come. This episode, Lisa and Liam discuss what working with young children now means as we face an ongoing climate emergency that will affect the children we work with long into the future.

The inaugural National Children’s Commissioner Megan Mitchell has released her final report on children’s rights in Australia. It’s described as a “full and frank look” at how Australia is faring on a range of areas related to children and young people, and makes over 80 recommendations to improve our record. This episode, Lisa, Leanne and Liam have a discussion about how the early education sector is engaging with issues of children’s rights, before we hear an interview Liam conducted with Megan Mitchell on her report and her time as the first Children’s Commissioner.

It's the end of another year, which mean's it's time for our annual Year in Review episode! We look back on the year that's been for early education, look ahead to 2020 and answer some listener questions.

6000 children under 5 live in Mt Druitt in NSW. 33% of those children are considered ‘developmentally vulnerable’ when they start school. The Hive is an initiative started in 2015 by the Ten20 Foundation, United Way Australia, and NSW Family and Community Services to ensure that all children in the 2770 postcode start school well. This episode features voices from the graduation ceremony of the Collaboration 4 Learning (C4L) project, a unique professional development opportunity established for educators to engage in their own research projects.

The NSW Government has announced that services in NSW will be required to display a star rating alongside their usual National Quality Standard rating, in an apparent bid to help families better understand ratings. The star ratings have had a very mixed response from the sector, raising issues of professional identity, the marketing of the NQF to the community and how well services are being supported to improve quality. Lisa, Leanne and Liam discuss this new initiative before Lisa chats with presenter and researcher Anthony Semann.

Christmas, Anzac Day, Melbourne Cup, Mother's and Father's Days, Australia Day - celebrations have become a controversial and challenging topic for many in the early education sector. This episode, we take a look a like at why celebrations are so contested and how educators can explore different perspectives on commonly-held celebrations.

This episode, we’re spending some time thinking about educator and teacher practice in the first three years. There’s a huge amount of advocacy out there for the importance of the first five years, but plenty of research points to the idea that the first three years are even more important for children. Yet infants and toddlers practice in the sector often receives far less attention than the years just before school.

This week, SNAICC and Family Matters have released a Position Paper endorsed by more than 80 organisations and individuals calling for the establishment of a national commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. Liam talks with SNAICC CEO Richard Weston about why this position is needed and what a commissioner could achieve.

This episode, we’re taking a look at one of the biggest frustrations out there in the sector - recruitment and retention. With subsidies flowing and the market-model growing, Australia’s early education sector needs more educators and teachers than ever before. But with TAFEs and Unis producing less graduates, and turnover rates not getting any better, we seem to be facing a growing crisis in how to actually ensure professional and qualified educators are working in services.

This episode, we’re taking one of our deep dives into early education policy. There are currently three major reviews being conducted into key parts of Australia’s early education sector. Right now, the Universal Access partnership for preschool funding, the National Quality Framework and ACECQA itself are all under the microscope. For each of these reviews, we’re going to take a step back and look at history and background, the context of the current review, and speculate wildly about what the reviews mean and what could happen.

Over the last few years, Family Day Care has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Multi-million dollar frauds of the subsidy system have made headlines, and have seen the Government focus on cracking down on those rorting the system. But while it’s a small part of the education and care sector, Family Day Care has been working to move beyond these negative stories.  Anita Jovanovski, CEO of NSW Family Day Care Association, joins Lisa and Liam to talk about Family Day Care and how it fits in with the modern early education sector.

One of the most important roles in the early education sector is the Centre Director. As well as usually being the Nominated Supervisor and individually responsible for ensuring the Law and Regulations are upheld in their service, Directors are also employee managers, often manage administration, need to meet organisational requirements, and a range of other responsibilities. The role is critical to positive outcomes for children, educators and families. But is it time to take a step back and ask - today, is too much expected of Centre Directors?

This episode, it’s a special live edition of the podcast recorded at the Social Justice in Early Education Conference. We discuss what public policies and what practices in our sector are infringing on the capacity of all Australian children to access high quality early education and care this year? And what can we do as practitioners and advocates to further our cause?

The National Quality Framework, at its most fundamental level, is about positive outcomes for children in their learning and wellbeing. It sets the standard for quality, and raises the bar for the provision of children’s services in Australia. But the people who are expected to deliver this reform for Australia, educators, are paid low wages, work in shifts, and often aren’t recognised as professionals. Is it time to ask - are we too child-centred in our work, and what does that mean for educators?

Quality Area 1 - educational program and practice - is the Quality Area of the National Quality Standard that is most likely to be rated Working Towards. The sector is still working through the new requirements of the NQF, and what they mean for educators and children. In a world that is embracing more and more software and technology, what does documentation and planning mean in a digital world?

Valuing Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures is one of the guiding principles of the National Quality Framework. However, engaging with Indigenous perspectives can be a daunting prospect for many services. Why is it so important for educators and services to understand Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing and being? Where can they start? And what does the work in the first five years mean for broader advocacy? This episode, we're joined by Jessica Staines from the Koori Curriculum to tackle these big questions.