2009 and 2010 Early Childhood Workforce Best Practice and Innovation Projects
A well-trained early childhood education and care workforce is essential to fostering the best outcomes for children. Research has shown that better educated early childhood educators with specialised training deliver higher quality education and care. Making sure that child care professionals are highly qualified and have access to training and development can also assist in improving the standing of this sector within the community.
The early childhood education and care workforce in Australia faces a number of challenges in attracting, retaining and developing child care professionals—including: staff shortages, particularly in remote and disadvantaged areas and Indigenous communities; relatively low pay and variable working conditions; a high proportion of staff without formal qualifications; and low status and standing.
In addition to a $181.3 million package over five years of measures aimed at increasing the supply and quality of the early childhood workforce, the Australian Government is working with States and Territories to develop a national Early Years Workforce Strategy to provide a blueprint to improve recruitment and retention of the early childhood education and child care workforce, develop pathways that reward and support the best workers and raise the level of qualifications.
To further inform development of the national Early Years Workforce Strategy, the Australian Government established the Early Childhood Workforce Best Practice and Innovation Project (the Project) to provide one-off modest seed funding for projects aimed at exploring best practice or innovative models to support workforce development.
The aim of the Project is to enhance the quality of the early childhood education and care workforce through investigation of best practice/innovative models that can be disseminated across the early childhood education and care sector.
In 2009 and 2010 funding priority was given to projects which focussed on
- encouraging integration across the early childhood development sector
- innovative approaches to supporting staff training
- mentoring
- building leadership capacity in the sector
- developing partnerships aimed at mutual exchange of knowledge and skills within or across organisations and
- proposals undertaken in regional or remote areas or Indigenous communities that offer innovative ways of delivering professional development or increasing staff skills.
In addition, in 2010 funding priority was given to projects which focussed on skilling staff in particular aspects of the National Quality Framework or the national Early Years Learning Framework.
2010 early childhood education and care best practice and innovation projects
The successful 2010 early childhood education and care workforce projects are currently underway. Information on these projects can be found in the following fact sheet.
2009 early childhood education and care best practice and innovation projects
Information on the 2009 early childhood education and care workforce projects can be found in the following fact sheet. Final reports for the projects are also available.
Final Reports
- Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Services (MACS)/non Indigenous child care centres partnerships – Lady Gowrie Child Centre, New South Wales)
(
PDF 699KB | 
RTF 278KB)
- The Three Sisters Project – University of Canberra with project partners SDN Children’s Services (Redfern) and the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education
( PDF 519KB | RTF 257KB)
- The North West Early Childhood and Primary Teacher Workforce Development Strategy: Stage Two – Centre for Learning, Change and Development, Murdoch University
( PDF 849KB | RTF 591KB)
- Link In and Learn – SDN Children’s Services
( PDF 768KB | RTF 592KB)
- Establishing Curriculum Learning Circles to Increase Pedagogical Leadership – UTS Child Care Inc in partnership with the Early Childhood Institute, Macquarie University)
( PDF 263KB | RTF 303KB)
- Daly Kids Daily Lives: Early Childhood Training and Cultural Relevance – Charles Darwin University and the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education
( PDF 107KB | RTF 63KB)
- Yarning Circles – An Early Years Learning Framework Indigenous Inclusion Support Project – Health and Community Services Workforce Council Inc supported by the Indigenous Professional Support Unit (IPSU)
( PDF 868KB | RTF 441KB)
If you have any questions about the 2009 and 2010 Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce Best Practice and Innovation Projects please email the ECEC mailbox at: ececbestpracticeprojects@deewr.gov.au
Workforce Innovation Program
Up-skilling the family day care workforce
Under the Workforce Innovation Program, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations has provided funding of $505 000 to profile the national family day care workforce. This research and evaluation project is being undertaken by the Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council (CS&HISC) and is in its at the final stage of the project.
The CS&HISC has worked closely with the national Family Day Care Association and its 350 schemes/coordination units comprising over 12 000 family day educators and coordination unit staff and a network of Registered Training Organisations in the gathering, collation and validation of data to profile the national family day care workforce. This was achieved through convening national consultation forums, surveys, interviews and through monitoring the training experiences of educators to inform valuable case studies.
The results of this research and analysis are currently being presented in a comprehensive research report with recommendations on initiatives required to up-skill and grow the family day care workforce. It is envisaged that the report will be finalised towards the middle of 2011.