Education and care services should be aware of two important changes recently made to NSW and Commonwealth Government policies:

1. The NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning has released a Minister’s Statement of Expectations. It means all education and care services can expect a visit from the regulator at least once each year. 

2. The Commonwealth Government has changed the rules about inducements—it means iPads and other financial incentives to encourage families to enrol at a service are not permitted from January 2023. 

Read on to find out the detail about these new changes and how they could impact your service.  

Recently, Maria Pender retired from CELA's board after a lifetime career in early childhood education.

Maria Pender is a woman who believes that if you can do something to make a difference, then that’s what you should do. Over her long and respected career as an early childhood educator, Maria made a difference in the lives of many children, educators and families. 

We celebrate Maria's career highlights and share how she went from working in a local kindergarten aged 11, to championing sustainability and innovation as the Director of Clovelly Child Care Centre and setting up programs at Macquarie University that enabled Indigenous students to become early childhood teachers. 

Children learn a lot about conversations from speaking with adults. Speaking respectfully with children will help them learn how to speak respectfully with friends and adults, contributing to their social and emotional development.

Early Childhood Teacher Meg Anastasi shares some tips and ideas about how to speak respectfully with children in various early childhood education situations. 

Supporting children during moments of stress or when confronted with behaviours of concern can be challenging in a busy early education and care space, but it is vital that educators feel confident and capable during these situations. Having an understanding of how children’s brains respond to stress can equip educators with the knowledge and framework required to confidently support children to navigate these moments. 

In this article, we explore why it’s beneficial to understand neuroscience when working with children. We provide a topline overview of key neuroscience concepts and how different parts of the brain affect a child’s response to stimuli, and share tips from CELA trainer Kerrie Maguire on how educators can help children by boosting the right brain chemicals through relationships, responses and activities.  

The Treasurer delivered the interim Federal Budget on Tuesday, 25 October 2022. Early education and care was a focus due to the Cheaper Child Care legislation, which will largely benefit young families.

The interim budget delivered on its election promise regarding cheaper child care, addressing affordability and access for vulnerable children. We are pleased with these measures as they align with CELA's advocacy pillars and our 6 Point Plan for Education and Care, addressing issues we have advocated for over many years.

As expected, the budget did not address early education and care wages. There will be another window for this to be addressed in the May budget, particularly given the Cheaper Childcare Bill will create even more demand for our workforce when it is implemented. We will continue our relentless advocacy to influence for wages to be addressed in the lead-up to the May budget.