Do you and your colleagues share a definition of junk food? 1000 childcare workers, surveyed by researchers from Western Australia’s Edith Cowan University, didn’t. Some thought sausages, high in saturated fat and salt, were a naughty treat. For others, these ...

As childcare rebates run dry – more than 100,000 households are expected to reach their annual limit by June 2017 – families are increasingly turning to cheaper au pairs for childcare. Nicole Kofkin, chief executive of au pair agency Smart ...

Belgian model Hanne Gaby Odiele is a rangy 178 centimetres tall. Mousey-blonde haired and milky-skinned, she has an impish, slightly androgynous look. As well as strutting catwalks, Odiele is helping break a taboo by recently declaring herself as intersex. Odiele ...

“Only 13 [Indigenous early childhood educators] graduated, and that was in the early ’90s. I think that gives you a fair idea”, said Michelle Hamilton, Gowrie, NSW inclusion resource manager, referring to the still tiny proportion of Indigenous educators in the ...

Parents, have your proverbial crudités at the ready: paid parental leave (PPL) ‘double-dipping’ will probably remain. Nick Xenophon’s party – which holds the balance of power on this issue – has declared it will stand by the current scheme, instead ...

Ashfield, Sydney, 1874: a servant girl, impregnated by the master of the house, covertly gives birth. Stricken with anxiety about the consequences in a society that scorns unwed mothers, she leaves the baby outside. It probably would have died of exposure, ...

A raucous bus ride to the bush. Nature trails. After-dinner stories around a crackling campfire. This sounds like your regular school camp, but it isn’t: it’s preschool, or kindy camp, as Little Beacons Learning Centre calls its new initiative. The ...

It is the best of times and the worst of times for Working With Children Checks (WWCCs). South Australia is leading the other states and territories by example. A plan to revamp SA’s WWCCs by establishing portable checks valid for ...