Amplify! Blog

Amongst the many Government reports and inquiries conducted in 2020, one released in late 2020 received little attention. The Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training released a report on Education in remote and complex environments.

The biennial Little Scientists Early STEM Award celebrates early childhood services’ achievements in the areas of inquiry-based learning and child-led STEM exploration.

The language used in children’s books, movies, and TV shows has gradually changed since the turn of the century. Words that were once taboo for a young child’s ears are now commonly heard in popular picture books like The Bum Book, Poo in the Zoo, and No-one Likes a Fart.

In this two-part series, we share stories from some of the 2020 winners, along with insights into how the children benefited from the experience, and why the projects stood out to the judging panel.

Today’s story is a reflection on the impact of a surprise ‘double diagnosis’ of giftedness and dyslexia for her oldest daughter, and how it made her value the positive impact early educators and teachers can have for families and children in a similar position.

The Abecedarian Approach places a priority on high-quality adult-child interactions and children’s language acquisition.

Research has shown that the approach can improve IQ and stimulate development in multiple domains. These interactions can even work to counteract the negative impact of growing up in disadvantaged circumstances.

Stephanie Seidler is an experienced early educator who is passionate about promoting meaningful educational experiences for children.

She recently created a presentation to help educate teachers and parents about the benefits of process art over product art.

Stephanie has kindly agreed to let us share it with you so that you can prepare educators and families for a “craptivity”-free future.

CELA CEO Michele Carnegie has written to The Hon Sarah Mitchell MLC, Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning, calling on the government to include the early education and care workforce in the list of priority COVID-19 vaccinations.

There’s no denying 2020 was an incredibly challenging year for everyone, and the challenges will continue well into 2021. With so much uncertainty still ahead of us, one way we can help our sector to thrive throughout the turmoil is by nurturing our workforce.

A giant thank you to the CELA members* who completed our workforce survey in late 2020. Your responses provide us with a good understanding of the shape of our workforce, and the recruitment challenges our members are facing. This will help us with our advocacy in 2021, and in particular how CELA can feed into ACECQA’s National Workforce Strategy, which is currently under development and will be open for consultation in 2021.