The recently launched Early Childhood Education Workforce Capacity Project (ECEWC) kits have already made a valuable contribution to the education of new teachers with more than 140 kits being distributed across Australia so far.

 

According to Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer, Dr Alison Lord, who oversaw the development of these resources the response to the kits has been overwhelmingly positive.

 

“Research tells us that the better qualified the teacher, the better the educational outcomes. All children should have access to a qualified teacher and the ECEWC project has concentrated on building the capacity, particularly in inland and Indigenous communities, for education providers to access necessary tools so we have good quality qualified teachers throughout Australia,” Dr Lord said.

 

“The kits have given regional and remote educators additional tools to support their continued studies and we’ve had several enquiries from metropolitan areas interested in using the resources.”

 

Designed with the early childhood practitioner and pre-service teacher in mind, the kits are available online as well as in hardcopy, making them readily accessible. The resources cover wellness and wellbeing, the rights of the child, mentoring, Indigenous perspectives and student support as well as offering useful links and additional resources.

 

Community facilitator for the ECEWC project, Ms Naomi Dwight, has been hand-delivering kits to the Central West area of NSW. “The general reaction from educational facilities in places like Forbes and Canowindra is excitement and perhaps a sense of relief that resources were now available to combat some of the difficulties faced in centres.”

 

Funded by the Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations under the Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund for Equity and Access in December 2008, the ECEWC Project commenced in 2009 with Charles Sturt University (CSU) as the senior institutional partner. CSU worked in close collaboration with TAFE NSW Riverina Institute, TAFE Western and the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Education to develop and deliver these resources.

 

The project aimed to build workforce capacity in early childhood education through enhancing existing expertise and building the workforce, particularly in inland and Indigenous areas in NSW and the Northern Territory. The project developed training pathways that are accessible and locally supported, with a particular emphasis on the development of appropriate programs that match the needs and strengths of communities. Resources developed were then made available to early learning educators in training.

 

“We have received numerous enquires regarding the kits and demand is high,” Dr Lord said. “We will deliver more than 600 hardcopy kits by early 2012 and, with all resources including DVDs, available to download from the website, we are expecting more educators will benefit into the future.”