Your young charges may be greeting you with a “buongiorno” as well as a “ni hao”, come 2017. The government has announced a rollout of its Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) program to all childcare centres and preschools, in addition ...

Why have one year, when you can have two? Independent educational think tank the Mitchell Institute argues this truism is profoundly applicable to preschool years. In fact, in the institute’s just-released, evidence-based report, Preschool – Two Years are Better than One, it states our ...

Kate Ellis and many others may begrudge Australian childcare costs, but Society at a Glance 2016 has put them into context. The biennial OECD report, released this month, shows many of our international neighbours easily eclipse us, in childcare fees as a percentage ...

The Netherlands is known for clogs, Edam cheese, and tulips. But if you speak to Dutch early-learning professionals, they will also proudly claim Marte Meo as their own. Marte Meo, pronounced ‘marta mayo’, derived from Latin, loosely means ‘on one’s ...

It’s the rort that keeps on swindling. The Australian Childcare Alliance revealed the country has lost about $1.6 billion in childcare scams over three years. The Victorian minister for families and children, Jenny Mikakos, said that, in the wake of this discovery, ...

We already knew it, but now there’s further proof that grandparents are doing their childcare bit. An Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) survey of 8000 children, nationwide, has shown that maternal grandparents are particularly hands on in caring for ...

Along with bombarding Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s social media accounts with a plea for higher wages, for national #EqualPayDay on September 8, more than 100 early-childhood educators also walked off the job in Victoria. The action was organised by union United Voice’s Big Steps campaigners. ...

It’s finally springtime. This is when tulips and daffodils blossom – along with parliamentary bills. That means it’s time for childcare reform, provided the Senate plays along. The education minister, Simon Birmingham, promised that, upon his return, childcare reforms would be top ...