• The Early Childhood Voices 2024 (ECV2024) Conference in late November will consider a range of issues impacting the early childhood education and care profession
• A new report finds Australia needs 21,000 more early childhood educators to meet current demands and an additional 18,000 to meet future expectations
• The ECV2024 online conference is from Monday 25 to Thursday 28 November

As early childhood educators across Australia and beyond prepare for the Charles Sturt University Early Childhood Voices 2024 (ECV2024) Conference in late November, a recent government report sounds the alarm about future workforce shortages.

The report, The Future of the Early Childhood Education Profession, by Jobs and Skills Australia commissioned by the Australian Government describes the current workforce needs and capacity of Australia’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector.

Lecturer in Education Dr Belinda Downey in the Charles Sturt School of Education in Bathurst said the report of The Early Childhood Education and Care Study made 28 findings and 41 recommendations.

“The report states the ECEC workforce is made up of more than 200,000 workers who are overwhelming female, and the nation needs 21,000 more educators to meet current demands and an additional 18,000 to meet future expectations,” Dr Downey said.

Importantly, the report notes the profession’s overall regulatory framework has been designed to promote quality education and care, with the National Quality Framework (NQF) providing the workforce with an essential quality standard to assure children’s safety and quality early learning.

Dr Downey said while the NQF assures quality education and care for children, stakeholders who contributed to the report universally reported workforce strain and retention issues.

“This is exacerbated by high levels of recruitment activity driven by increasing service demand,” she said.

“Correspondingly, this is worsened through educator attrition and the turnover impacts service delivery capability and increases pressure on the remaining educators and the quality of education they can provide.

“Regulations, while necessary, add to supply pressures, but funding constraints, increasing service demand and a tight labour market are also contributing to current workforce pressures.

“ECEC educators are at a higher risk of burnout than other professions and there are also relatively high rates of work-related injuries in ECEC which can further contribute to worker attrition.”

Dr Downey said discussion of these issues and more will be central to the ECV2024 program and two keynote presentations will focus on the ECEC workforce nationally and internationally:

• ‘Embracing systems thinking to open conditions of possibility for the early childhood education workforce’ by Dr Tamara Cumming, Macquarie University, Australia.

• ‘Developing and retaining a workforce for high-quality early childhood education and care’ by Dr Elizabeth Shuey, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The ECV2024 conference is free to attend and will be held online from Monday 25 to Thursday 28 November and registrations can be made online at the conference website.

The conference is also relevant to potential and current students enrolled in the Bachelor of Education (Birth to 5 Years) and the Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood and Primary) in the Charles Sturt School of Education.

ECV2024 is organised by the Charles Sturt University Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group as an opportunity to present research in a virtual online space.