Here is their mission statement.
“Early Childhood Australia will advocate to ensure quality, social justice and equity
in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight
years.”
Their values are The rights of children, leadership, excellence, respect, courage, honesty, openness, collaboration, diversity, justice and social inclusion of children.
Their newsletter is called ECA Web Watch. The first issue they discuss on their September issue is child protection week. More than 30000 children are neglected or abused every year in Australia. The newsletter discusses how communities, organizations, adults and children are doing their part to protect children from abuse and neglect. They have created programs for this purpose.
Play a part program
Aimed at children aged 0–8, their families and communities, the Play a part program is a local community engagement strategy that aims to prevent child abuse and neglect through the creation of child-friendly communities.
All children being safe program
Aimed at preschool and early primary children aged 4–6, the All children being safe program
uses non-threatening ways to help young children feel strong and stay safe in their communities, and to make people aware of support services available in their local communities.
Another issue that caught my attention was an article called, “For Full-time Fathers The Pressure is On.”
This article looks at how the lifestyles of Australian fathers have changed in recent decades.
Various research programs and studies reveal that on average, Australian fathers
are working more, spending more time with their children and helping with domestic
chores—and the pressure to ‘do it all’ is starting to show.
The newsletter offers a resource sheet which discusses Closing the gap in outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. This requires a focus on early intervention/education of Indigenous young children (from birth), their families and communities. I mentioned this because it relates to culture and diversity which is the topic this week.
