Amplify! Blog

At our AGM, we had the privilege of welcoming Emeritus Professor Deborah Brennan as our guest speaker. In an informative conversation with CELA CEO Michele Carnegie, she provided valuable insights into the recent Productivity Commission’s Early Childhood Education and Care Inquiry.

Access the full transcript of their discussion.

A staggering one in 8 adults and one in 6 children (16.7%) live in poverty in Australia. ECEC services are at the forefront of helping vulnerable families and therefore, it is critical that educators understand what poverty is and how best to provide support.  

This article explores findings from the 'Engaging Families in Early Education' (EFEE) project, a comprehensive study conducted by leading Australian researchers, which reveals the challenges faced by families living in poverty and offers insights into how early educators can make a difference.

Educational Leader Melanie Elderton and Director Su Garrett from Explore & Develop Annandale, share how the service's regular local outings nurture confidence, curiosity, and creativity. These excursions are often spontaneous and also support key areas of development such as road safety, sustainability, and social interaction.

Read on to explore the remarkable learning that unfolds when we step outside the gate, and how to create opportunities for spontaneous outings to happen on a regular basis.

Professor Sheila Degotardi shares more about the upcoming Infants and Toddlers: Practice, Pedagogy and Research Conference taking place at Macquarie University from 22-23 November. CELA is proud to be one of the event sponsors. 

CELA Education and Care Specialist, Jannelle Gallagher, reflects on an international workshop she recently attended, examining the importance of microbes in children’s health. The two-day ‘meeting of minds’ at the University of the Sunshine Coast prompted her to question how educators might explore the ‘invisible’ at their service. 

ECT and CELA Early Education Specialist Meg Anastasi reflects on the need for educators to approach gun play with critical reflection, being mindful that personal biases don’t interfere with children’s ability to explore complex themes relating to their ecological systems in a safe and supportive environment.

Proud Gangalidda woman Hayley Goodrick shares the significance of Acknowledgement of Country in early learning and OOSH settings and provides practical tips on how to meaningfully incorporate this practice into daily routines, helping to build connections to the land and promote reconciliation from a young age. 

A community-managed long day care service director recently told us how they lost over ten thousand dollars to scammers in two separate cyber attacks. Both incidents involved sophisticated email fraud that targeted the service's payment processes.

They invited us to share their story with others, in order to help raise awareness and prevent other services from falling victim to similar scams.

Have you observed something in your service that you think might constitute inappropriate discipline, but you're unsure of how to address it? 

In this article, we unpack what constitutes 'inappropriate discipline', how to report it, and provide examples and tips for guiding positive behaviour.  

Many educators feel uncertain and under prepared when it comes to responding to and de-escalating behaviours that challenge. This can contribute to educator burnout. 

Child development expert Professor Cathrine Neilsen-Hewett's new 6R framework offers a solution by guiding educators to understand the root causes of behaviours and implement supportive, evidence-based strategies that nurture children’s development and enhance educator-child relationships.