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The assessment and planning cycle and its documentation can sometimes be a challenging process for educators and services across the early childhood education and care sector, including family day care.
While Section 168 of the Education and Care Services National Law outlines what the approved provider and nominated supervisor must do in relation to the program to be delivered to all children being educated by the service, there is no one-size-fits-all approach, specific templates, prescriptive amounts or legislated timeframes for services to use or follow. This can present challenges but also opportunities to develop processes that recognise and respond to the unique context of their services and community.
ACECQA has developed a set of new information sheets to guide both educators and approved providers on streamlining educational program documentation while at the same time ensuring legislative and quality standards are met. The resources can be found here, under the heading of Quality Area 1. Links to the individually tailored information sheets are below:
Today is Early Childhood Educators’ Day! This national community event acknowledges the vital role that early childhood educators play in the lives of young children and their families, in laying the foundation for children’s future learning, development, and well-being.
It also shines a light on the long-term benefits of early learning, which are now well recognised in Australia as well as globally.
Most importantly, at the local level Early Childhood Educators’ Day provides a wonderful opportunity for our own local community to express gratitude and appreciation for the hard work and significant impact that educators have on our children’s lives.
FDCA would like to say a special thank you to all of the family day care educators for the meaningful and unparalleled work you do and for the irreplaceable role you play in the lives of over 75,000 children across Australia.
FDCA is proud to announce that Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner, Anne Hollonds, will be joining the FDCA 2025 National Conference as a keynote speaker!
As the National Children’s Commissioner, working for the Australian Human Rights Commission, Anne advocates for the rights of children, ensures children can participate and have a voice in decisions and policies that impact them, and provides a coordinated approach to the protection of children’s rights in Australia.
Anne previously served as the Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies and for 23 years was a chief executive of government and non-government organisations focused on research, policy and practice in child and family wellbeing.
To find out more about Anne and access our exclusive members’ only 10-month conference ticket payment plan before access closes, visit the conference website.
The Australian Government Department of Education (the Department) is working with ORIMA Research to conduct a survey on inclusive practice in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), including family day care.
Through the survey, the Department is seeking service providers’ feedback on:
We encourage our service members to participate in this important survey. Keep an eye out for an email from ORIMA with a link to complete the survey. Emails will be sent from Monday 2 September.
You can learn more about the survey on ORIMA’s website here.
This Friday, we will be launching the Family Day Care Brains Trust on the FDCA Facebook Page.
The Family Day Care Brains Trust will share common scenarios, that are based on enquiries that we receive, with our Facebook audience. The family day care community will be encouraged to share advice on how they might deal with the scenario in question.
We will collate your responses and share them with the community every other month.
The purpose of the Family Day Care Brains Trust is to tap into the wisdom of the family day care community to provide support from a place of knowledge and experience.
This week is National Child Protection Week (NCPW), that aims to engage, educate and empower Australians to understand the complexity of child abuse and neglect and work together to prevent it.
This year’s theme is ‘Every conversation matters’. Conversations are powerful tools to keep children and young people safe and well and can help us understand issues, craft solutions, value community knowledge, and build the brains and social connections of children and young people.
To get involved in NCPW, visit the NCPW website, ways to get involved page which includes the webinar program (places are limited, please register as soon as possible), local community events listing and art activity.
There is also a suite of brochures on child protection topics and Tips for Playing Your Part which includes a section for carers.
FDCA has developed both a hard copy and online interactive learning module Safeguarding Children: Harmful Sexual Behaviours, which is specific to the family day care setting. Both of these resources are available FREE, to all FDCA members, via the FDCA Member Zone.
Login to your FDCA Member Zone and navigate to the FDCA Learning Hub tab to access the online module. To access the digital resources, navigate to the Resources and Factsheets library, once logged into the FDCA Member Zone.
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