Early Childhood Australia is the head, most authority for
early childhood in Australia. [Australia is the only continent that is its own
country. I learned that in 4th grade] It is equivalent to our NAEYC.
I clicked around the site looking at news, research archives, themes, position statements;
you know just getting a feel for the place.
There is a theme of quality care. I found an abstract that
discusses the changes in quality care over the past 40 years. (Logan, Press,
Sumison 2012) From what I can understand, early childhood education and care is
relatively new in Australia and is gaining momentum as a respected field. There
was a media release calling for bipartisan support of early childhood.
Apparently reforms were made and now some people want to undo them.(media
release 2012)
It was hard to get a grasp on research because you need to
be a subscriber but from what I can Australia is a happening place to be in
regard to early childhood education and care. When we had to do our lit review and search
for articles I found several from Australia.
Another thing I liked about this website – there are several
articles referring to parents and worker voices. I love that Australian
researchers are branching out to work with the families because families are
who is directly affected by our work. Their voice should be considered important.
References
Logan, H., Press, F., Sumison, J. (2012). The quality imperative: Tracing the rise of
‘quality’ in Australian early childhood education and care policy. (As seen on:
www.earlychildhoodaustraila.org.au)
Hi Koni,
ReplyDeleteThis is not the first time that I hear about the efforts made to support the early childhood and the families of young children in Australia. There are American researches and advocates that had studied the work they are doing in Australia. They are using that information to advocate for our infants and toddlers in America. Australia have a home visitor program that follows up with families with of infants and toddlers to offer support and ensure healthy development. Please check this website http://forourbabies.org and review the work that is being done here in America based on the research conducted in Australia and other developed countries.
Koni,
ReplyDeleteI too looked at this website and found it fascinating. I actually found many comparisons to NAEYC; focus on quality and reform, an understanding that this field effects a strong/weak economy, and most impressive was a series they have to support best practice in the entire EC field.(The research in practice series)