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Victoria University Academics Speak Out For Early Childhood Education
Victoria University academic Sue Cherrington has written an open letter to the new Minister for Education Nikki Kaye calling for quality early childhood education to be a priority, and suggesting that MPs from all parties work together on a plan for quality, based on the evidence.
Dr Cherrington, who is the Associate Dean of Education, says participation has increased and so has spending, but quality has fallen.
She is calling on the new Minister to make changes to stop early childhood education being a political football.
She says the first things should be a plan to move to a qualified teaching workforce, an improvement to ratios, and ongoing professional learning and adequate on-contact time for all teachers.
You can read the full letter here.
Meanwhile, Jenny Ritchie from Victoria has called on all political parties to make early childhood education a priority in election year. She asks whether patients would accept only half of all nurses being qualified in hospital, and says children deserve more.
Her article includes a graph that shows how the community sector in early childhood education is shrinking as a proportion of the sector, while the private providers grow.
You can read Jenny's paper here.
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