Each year hundreds of Australians receive Australia Day Honours for the outstanding service and contributions they make to everyday life in Australia. This year, three notable Australians, The Honourable Jay Weatherill, Megan Mitchell and Professor Lester-Irabinna Rigney, were honoured for their contributions to early childhood education.The Honourable Jay Weatherill, AO, received his Officer of the Order of Australia award for

With the widespread acceptance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the land comes the simple proposition that we must change the date—the 26th of January is not an inclusive day of celebration for all Australians. And yet the controversy rages. There are many different views around the date of Australia Day and it is

Every year on the 26th of January we celebrate what it means to be Australian. It’s a day when we welcome new Australians into the fold through citizenship ceremonies and we get together for barbecues, that most inexplicably Australian of meals. We mark the day in a myriad of ways and yet we continue to ignore the elephant in the

We have heard so many times in the last year that we are experiencing unprecedented times, and indeed we are. This quote from Monbiot (2017, p. 1), highlighted in the concluding chapter of Claire Cameron and Peter Moss’s new book, aptly outlines the situation: The old world, which once looked stable, even immutable, is collapsing. A new era has begun,

Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started pulling their children out of childcare due to the pandemic, especially casuals not eligible for JobKeeper. And when the federal government introduced its temporary free childcare package, centres struggled to get the staff back. The situation is

Attuned routines give us the chance to reconsider our interactions and focus on pausing to be truly with a child. One opportunity for an attuned routine experience is nappy changes. Here Dr Katherine Bussey and Michelle Richardson share some insights for us as we reconceptualise this routine task. Reconceptualising nappy changes and toileting key times for learning requires educators to facilitate opportunities for

Many of us are looking forward to celebrating the end of the year with friends and family—perhaps even more than usual after the stress and isolation of COVID-19. Hopefully, the New Year will bring more reasons for optimism and fewer challenges like those experienced by so many in 2020, due to natural disasters as well as the pandemic. The upcoming

‘Being a professional requires you to exercise pedagogical judgment—every day. It does seem though we now have a ‘Christmas’ curriculum and it starts early.’ Karen Hope encourages educators to reflect on more than just the art and craft of Christmas in early childhood settings. I like this time of year and I celebrate Christmas. For me it’s a time to

Sixty accomplished women in science, technology, engineering and maths and technology have been announced as Australia’s newest Superstars of STEM. The Superstars of STEM program, supported by the Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, sets out to smash traditional stereotypes of scientists, engineers and mathematicians. The program provides women in these fields with training in media and

Catharine Hydon and Kerrie O’Neill share nine compelling reasons why now is the time for students studying early childhood education and care need to be in services doing placement. It’s been bubbling for months but do you realise the gravity of the problem? The niggling concern identified by the pre-service sector that many students have not been able to complete