Page 1162 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 28 March 2017
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As I said in making my ministerial statement on the future of education in the ACT, it is something that I have witnessed over my years working with the sector, and it is something I see in my own community. Labor undertook during 2016 to develop a strategy for the future of education in this city, and work has already started on that commitment. We will also bring forward a strategy for improving access to quality early childhood education and care, building on our work on the future of education and the conversations that we have along the way.
I look forward to hearing stories of how people’s lives have changed and are changing because of quality early childhood education. The data does not tell you, though, Madam Assistant Speaker, about the two-year-olds with traumatised lives who will start to speak and learn at long day care. It does not tell you about the friendships children form, not clouded by race, religion, gender or ability. It does not tell you about children with learning difficulties getting vital early assistance or the families connected with the community services that they need to break out of a bad situation.
The research tells us that connecting early childhood educators working in schools with those in non-school settings provides continuity and vital learning support. Nationally and internationally, schools are also recognised as effective sites for integrated services for children and their families.
Two programs in my portfolio have adopted this type of integrated service delivery model. The Koori preschool program provides an early childhood education program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, primarily three and four-year-olds. Koori preschools deliver holistic programs supporting children’s learning, development and wellbeing. The program recognises the connections between children, families and communities, and the centrality of culture and family to children’s learning. The program is also strongly linked to the ACT child and family centres through Koori early years engagement officers, who support family engagement as well as increased enrolment and attendance.
Other partners that support the Koori preschool program include the child development service and Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service. Through these collaborative relationships the program draws on multidisciplinary expertise, with the intent to provide a holistic response to the child and their family.
Similarly, early childhood schools were established to become community hubs where families have access to a comprehensive array of services to support children’s learning and family wellbeing. As well as schooling for children from kindergarten to year 2, these schools can also provide access to long day care, outside school hours care, and child and family health and wellbeing services. Each early childhood school is unique, evolving to meet the needs of its community.
These programs recognise that families are children’s first and most influential educators, and that children’s learning is most effective when their physical, social and emotional wellbeing are also supported. The experiences so far with these groundbreaking models of service give us the chance to learn about what has worked well and where we can do better, and that work will be included in the early childhood strategy.
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