In January, more than 930 Australian academics lobbied the government to release children from detention on Nauru. Now, academics from the UK have joined their cause. Professor Jayne Osgood, early childhood researcher at Middlesex University, has rallied 112 fellow early childhood experts from across the globe ...
More »Author Archives: Loren Smith
Fixes for the gender imbalance, assuming it’s a problem
While feminists are campaigning for quotas for women in government and business, they are unlikely to bother with this issue in early childhood education. Women dominate the sector; only 6 per cent of workers are male, the 2013 National Early Childhood ...
More »Mindfulness over matter? Hot trend’s effectiveness unproven
Kate’s 5-year-old daughter, Lilly, slept in her arms while her jovial pediatrician addressed her from across the desk. “When they’re like this, you just want to eat them, don’t you?” He grinned in anticipation of his punch line. “And when ...
More »Working mums a boon for daughters’ careers: Harvard researchers
While Anne-Marie Slaughter, former US State Department director turned female equality advocate, prepares to scale the Sydney Opera House stage to trumpet her message: Why women still can’t have it all, a 2015 Harvard Business School working paper suggests they ...
More »Mums school children on meat: study
Children are learning what ‘farm to table’ means at a young age. A University of Adelaide study has revealed parents are generally teaching their kids about the source of meat before they start school. “There’s a perception that it’s easier ...
More »Indigenous early education gap remains wide
Indigenous children continue to have an educationally poorer start in life. The federal government’s 2016 Closing the Gap report revealed the target early education enrolment rate for Indigenous childhood fell considerably short. On average, based on 2013 data, only about ...
More »Childcare costs drive parents out of workforce
Why work when it’s more economically viable to care for your kids? According to the Productivity Commission’s 2016 Report on Government Services, many adults are choosing to care for children rather than work, due to rising childcare costs. Roughly half of respondents from a ...
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