A strong desire to build a workforce of qualified early childhood educators for rural regional and Indigenous Australia, has motivated Charles Sturt University (CSU) to successfully secure more than $2 million in Commonwealth funding.

 

The federal Minister for Education, the Hon. Julia Gillard MP, has announced $2.1 million for CSU through the government’s 2008 competitive round of the Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund.

“The government’s funding of the project, Building Capacity For Early Childhood Education, has shown confidence in our proven strengths in developing quality early childhood education for Australia,” said the Dean of the University’s Faculty of Education Professor Toni Downes.

 

The project incorporates three partnership programs with TAFE NSW Riverina and Western Institutes, both in regional NSW, the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (BIITE) in the Northern Territory as well as the local communities which these institutions serve.  The model programs developed during these partnerships will be shared with other communities, TAFE and universities.

 

The project will also lead to the development of new articulated TAFE-university pathways from Certificate III to a four year early childhood education (ECE) teaching degree and new online teaching resources to support teaching and learning.

 

“The Rudd government’s commitments to reform the early childhood sector, include 262 new early childhood centres in areas of need across the country; 15 hours of preschool for all children in the year prior to school provided by four year qualified ECE teachers; and a commitment that all Indigenous four year olds in remote communities will have access to high quality early childhood programs,” said Professor Downes.

 

“These commitments require significant structural adjustments to Australia’s early childhood education workforce, particularly with regard to increasing the number of four year qualified teachers.

 

“The project, being led by Charles Sturt University, addresses the regional, rural and Indigenous components of a workforce strategy, as there are particular difficulties in attracting, training and retaining suitably qualified early childhood educators, and in providing ways to upgrade the qualifications of current and potential educators within these communities.

 

“This project provides the vehicle for developing sustainable early childhood education programs, ensuring that potential students are connected to their profession while undertaking study in inland and Indigenous communities,” said Professor Downes. 

  

“The recent UNICEF report, The Childcare Transition placed Australia well down on the list of developed countries, noting the we do not have consistently high quality, well-funded and national approaches to early childhood education,” said CSU Professor of Early Childhood Education Sue Dockett.

 

“This project aims to address several key planks in the federal Government's agenda to improve early childhood education in Australia, particularly by helping to provide a well-qualified workforce, equipped to deliver high quality early childhood education services throughout Australia.”

 

In announcing the funding on Thursday 11 December for 49 projects through the latest round of the Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund, Minister Gillard stated that the “successful projects will help the higher education sector better respond to student and employer demand and assist universities in developing their distinctive missions”.