This edition of Bedrock celebrates the history of early childhood education and care with a focus on the Kindergarten Union (KU). The KU has played a pivotal role in the development of early childhood education in Australia and celebrates its 120th anniversary this year.
The historic tensions within early childhood education are succinctly outlined by Frances Press in her article. The apparent conflict has not been entirely resolved today between those advocating for long day care so they could work and advocates of quality kindergarten education who did not support long day care for children.
Access to childcare for working families is important and an emphasis on providing children with quality education is equally important.
However, the Federal Government’s proposed Jobs for Families childcare package clearly indicates where the emphasis lies at the national level. Indeed in the article on this package the Minister states childcare “is an important consideration in these reforms which will better help nearly one million families to work or work more”. The IEU believes this package must be as inclusive as possible for those working families who need it most, but also should address the needs of the disadvantaged.
Encouraging sustainable practices and nature based play and helping foster children’s care for the natural environment is highlighted in this issue. The great work being done by Numala Kinder in Queensland’s Gold Coast region with respect to Standard 3.3 of the National Quality Standard (NQS) sets a benchmark for positive attitudes in future generations.
We hope you enjoy this first edition of Bedrock for 2016 and welcome your comments via email bedrock@ieu.nsw.asn.au or on Facebook/ieunswact