Episodes

Earlier this year, Liam was interviewed by Lecturer Kathrine Whitty for a video to her Masters students at the Australian Catholic University. It was an opportunity to discuss all things early education, including Liam's professional journey in the sector, and Kath and the ACU were kind enough to share the audio of the interview for the Early Education Show. 

We're back for a new fortnightly series! This week, we're tackling the Federal Government's Early Years Strategy. What is the context of this new strategy, and what do we think it should come up with?

We're back for a new fortnightly series! This week, we're tackling the Federal Government's Early Years Strategy. What is the context of this new strategy, and what do we think it should come up with?

We've been away for a while - but we couldn't let as big a year as 2022 pass without getting the gang back together.

The Federal Government has just released its Budget for 2021 and 2022, which - after sustained advocacy from a variety of people and organisations - includes increases in spending in many areas - including early education. But while billions of dollars are in the Budget papers, what is the devil in the detail? Joining us to break down Child Care Subsidy changes, universal preschool funding agreements and more red tape smashing, is the official fourth member of the podcast Karl Hessian!

There have been a spate of media articles recently concerning child sexual abuse linked to educators working in the early education sector. This episode, Lisa talks with Deanne Carson, a leading Australian sexuality educator, researcher, speaker, author and Founder and CEO of Body Safety Australia, on how educators and leaders can better ensure their spaces are safe for children.

Minister for Early Education in the Victorian Government, Ingrid Stitt MP, has been raising the alarm about continued uncertainty with the National Partnership on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education. Lisa chats with her about why this funding is so important, why the uncertainty creates so many challenges, and the reforms that the Victorian Government are putting in place with early education.

Under the National Quality Framework, professionals and services need to report a range of serious incidents to their regulatory authorities. But why don't we talk more about how services approach reporting and reporting behaviours with their teams? Leanne sits down with Big Fat Smile CEO Jenni Hutchins to discuss why a positive culture of reporting is so important.

In 2019, the second review of the National Quality Framework officially commenced. The Review aims to identify aspects of the NQF that could be improved or updated, and to incorporate new thinking about the regulation of early education. Earlier this year, the Consultation Regulation Impact Statement was released, which identifies options for changes to the NQF and what they might mean. There’s nothing we love more than a consultation process, so we spend this episode talking about the NQF Review in general, and a few things from the Regulation Impact Statement specifically.

We're back for another year of banter about all things early education in Australia! In our first episode of 2021, we let everyone know what we did on our summer holidays and reflect on the experiences of women that have been dominating the media so far this year.

We then spend the second half of the episode discussing what about the sector makes us optimistic in 2021.

2020. We’re so glad you’re nearly over. Join us for our fifth annual end of year special episode, taking a look back at the year that was, looking ahead to 2021 and answering some listener questions.

The regular ACCS Trends in Community Children’s Services Survey sheds a light on trends in the quality of early education, accessibility and affordability, educator and teacher conditions and entitlements, and the overall impact of policy initiatives such as the NQF and the child care subsidy. It’s a wealth of data and analysis on how the Australian system of early education works - or doesn’t work - for children, educators, families and the community.

To discuss the latest Survey Report released in November, we’re joined by Daniela Kavoukas and Nikki Graham from Community Child Care Association in Victoria.

Anti-bias approaches in early education are about centring equity, tackling bias and creating beautiful ethical learning experiences and environments with and for children in the early years. Now about to be released in its fourth edition, The Anti-Bias Approach in Early Childhood has been a key publication in the history of exploring diversity, identity and inclusion in Australia’s early education sector.

To discuss the new edition of the Anti-Bias Approach, Lisa and Liam are joined by the book’s editor Dr Red Ruby Scarlet, and three of the book’s contributors - Tasha Huddy, Sharon Mathers and Rukmini Bose-Rhaman.

Family Matters has this week launched the Family Matters Report 2020, which examines how Australia is faring in improving the safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

To talk about this report, Liam is joined by Sue-Anne Hunter. Sue-Anne is a proud Wurundjeri woman, and National Chair for the Family Matters Campaign.

The Early Childhood Voices Conference is a free international multidisciplinary fully online conference about innovations in early education. International speakers will present research in a virtual online space about innovations to improve the lives of children, families and practitioners during early childhood or within the early childhood sector.

It can be very difficult for early childhood professionals to access, or afford, high-quality professional development, so this is an excellent opportunity that we wanted to find out more about. So to do that, we’re joined by one of the lead organisers of the event, Dr Tamara Cumming, and four of the presenters who will be sharing their presentations during the Conference - Professor Sue Dockett, Professor Bob Perry, Professor Gail Gillon and someone who may be quite familiar to the listeners of the podcast, Leanne Gibbs!

Early education is currently enjoying a higher political profile than usual. The first COVID-19 lockdown back in March and April saw the Government investing in free early education - but only temporarily. The Federal Opposition has made funding changes to early education the centrepiece of this year’s Budget in Reply. Community calls for greater access to more affordable early education are increasing. Amidst all that, a new advocacy project is trying to promote more, and smarter, investment in early childhood outcomes. We’ve seen lots of different advocacy campaigns - can Thrive By Five change Australia’s early education sector?

While there is no limit to the kinds of resources and materials that can be used to support the learning of young children, it’s hard to argue that the most important of all is books. The research is clear that immersing children in pre-literacy experiences such as reading with a trusted adult has dramatically positive impacts for them throughout their lives. It’s been a heavy year for the early education sector, so we’re going with a lighter look at children’s books and ask - which children’s books should every early education service have?

We also take a look at the recent Budget announcements from the Federal Government, and the Federal Opposition’s early education reform plans.

Australia’s early education sector is about children’s learning and wellbeing in the first five years. Educators and teachers have qualifications and training that are focused on children’s education. Yet, the sector also plays a largely unofficial role in supporting families. This could be as simple as providing resources on parenting, to much larger and more complex roles with families that are particularly struggling. But we know that the sector, and those that work in it, aren’t even given enough support to do the job they’re qualified for. This episode, we’re going to ask the question - should early education services even be supporting families?

Social media users in Australia are some of the most active in the world. 60% of the country are active users of Facebook, with 50% of the population logging on at least once a day. In Australia, there are 16 million Facebook users per month, 15.5 million YouTube users, 9 million Instagram users and 5.8 million Twitter users. With such widespread usage it is not surprising that the use of social media in the education and care sector is huge. But is the sector’s use of social media a force for good or not?

We thought it was time we explored the positives and negatives of social media use in the sector.

A few weeks ago, we discussed the worsening COVID-19 situation in Victoria and how it was affecting services, children, families and professionals. Soon after we released that episode - things became even more intense. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declared a State of Disaster, and announced Australia’s toughest lockdown. Melbourne has effectively shut down, and early education services have once again faced a whole new world of policies and funding.

Given these changes, we wanted to come back to Victoria and see what this new situation means for the sector there. We’re joined by Sarah Riches (CEO of ECIA VIC/TAS) and Sarah Louise (Associate at Semann & Slattery).