Close
FDCA was yesterday pleased to announce the 2024 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Regional Educator Winners!
Congratulations to all 71 Regional Educator Winners, who have been recognised for their outstanding work and dedication, in early childhood education and care.
You can view the full list of all Regional Educator Winners on the FDCA website.
You can also visit our Facebook page to pass on your congratulations and to view the ongoing announcements and coverage of our winners.
All of our Regional Educator Winners now go into the running to be named as one of four National Educator Finalists. National Finalists will be announced on 15 October 2024.
What’s next for the 2024 Awards?
The next big announcement on the 2024 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards calendar will be Star Award Winners on 8 October 2024. Our Star Award winners include new and long-serving educators, coordinators and services that have demonstrated exceptional practice and provide wonderful environments for children to thrive.
More information about the Excellence in Family Day Care Star Awards is available here.
We will follow the announcement of our Star Award Winners with the release of our National Finalists on 15 October 2024, who will travel to Parramatta, Sydney for the Awards Gala Dinner and presentation of our National Winners on 23 November 2024.
Thank you to all who took part in the 2024 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards, one of the most successful awards campaigns to date. The only national awards program of its kind for family day care, the Awards allow us to showcase the stories and achievements of educators, coordinators and services, and promote family day care as the natural choice in early childhood education and care for more Australian families.
Keep an eye out over the coming weeks for media stories on our Regional Educator Winners, which will be shared on our Facebook page and website.
The next instalment of the FDCA Online Engagement Series will take place on Thursday 17 October 2024 with a focus on Critical Reflection for Family Day Care.
With Critical Reflection being an area that family day care performs less well in, this is a must watch episode for all family day care educators and service staff looking for ways to gain insights and knowledge in this area.
To ensure that all viewers are able to maximise their opportunity to engage in such an important topic, we encourage members to submit their questions for this episode.
If you would like to submit a question, please click here.
Our Special Guest Panel
This episode will see FDCA co-hosts, Advocacy and Engagement Manager Michael Farrell and Sector Liaison Coordinator Lyndall Cotterill joined by:
Episode Details
Title: Critical Reflection for Family Day Care
Date and Time: Thursday 17 October, 2024, 6.00pm - 7.30pm AEDT
Streaming Links: FDCA Website, Facebook and YouTube
Our panel will focus on the following topics:
In exploring these topics, the panel will address the differences between reflection and critical reflection and also examine why critical reflection is particularly important in the context of family day care. The panel will also unpack ways that educators can critically reflect on their practice whilst embedding it into their daily routines and how services can create a supportive environment that encourages a culture of critical reflection that is sustained over time.
FDCA is pleased to announce that the call for abstracts for the FDCA 2025 National Conference are now open.
Renowned as the premier event for family day care professionals, the FDCA 2025 National Conference provides FDCA members with the unique opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with some of Australia’s leading minds in early childhood education and care, and share their knowledge, experience and insights.
Regardless of whether this is your first time attending the FDCA National Conference or you’re a conference regular, we invite you to submit an abstract to present. Join FDCA in representing, supporting and promoting family day care by adding your voice to the program.
As a presenter at the conference, you will become part of a stellar line-up that already includes internationally acclaimed New Zealand neuroscience educator Nathan Wallis, Dual Olympian and MD Dr Jana Pittman and National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds.
For more information and instructions on how to submit your abstracts, click here.
On 18 September the Productivity Commission released its final report on its Inquiry into “A path to universal early childhood education and care: Final report”.
Significantly, the Commission has recognised and responded to FDCA’s longstanding advocacy position around the inequitable Child Care Subsidy hourly fee cap for family day care and the need for a non-standard hours loading, alongside a number of other key positions.
FDCA engaged consistently with the Inquiry, providing submissions, appearing at the Commission’s Public Hearing and engaging with the Hon Dr Anne Aly, Minister for Early Childhood Education, and the Department of Education on issues specifically related to the Inquiry, its draft findings and recommendations.
FDCA’s submissions to the Productivity Commission reiterated several long-held advocacy positions and also outlined a broad strategic vision to better leverage the capabilities of family day care through innovation, as well as program, regulatory and funding reform, which would ultimately better support children and families across Australia as well as the Government’s policy goals.
A considerable number of recommendations made by the Commission have the potential to impact positively on family day care, depending on how the Government responds, and reflect distinct positions put forward by FDCA in our submissions. In summary (please see full report for complete detail), these include, but are not limited to:
To read the report, visit the Productivity Commission website.
What’s next?
Over the coming months, the Australian Government will consider the report’s findings and recommendations, alongside those of the recent Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) inquiry.
FDCA will continue to advocate for appropriate consideration and implementation of recommendations that will better support family day care into the future. Thank you to all members who engaged in the various consultation processes across this period to inform the development of our submissions.
It should be noted that due to the scale and proposed phased implementation timeframes, there is clearly a long road ahead, particularly considering there is a Federal Election in 2025.
However, there is no doubt that the important role of family day care has been carefully considered and recognised by the Productivity Commission because of our ongoing shared advocacy efforts. We now have a clear set of recommendations that are looking to our sector’s strengths, and the possibilities for better, more targeted support structures to promote our sector’s viability and growth into the future.
Did you know that hot food and drinks are the most common cause of burns and scalds in children?
There have been instances in family day care where children have sustained burns from grabbing hot drinks that were within reach. A simple cup of tea or coffee can be dangerous for a child but there are simple ways to reduce the risk of injury.
Try incorporating these burn and scald safety steps:
Kidsafe has developed a selection of BurnSafe learning resources for children. These are designed to educate children about how easily burns can happen, prevention strategies, making safe choices and burns first aid.
.svg)
