A new workforce strategy is to be developed for the Territory’s early education sector to value the work of educators more and encourage increased professional recognition.
The ACT workforce strategy is part of the national Shaping Our Future: Implementation and Evaluation Plan from the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), which has been endorsed by Education Ministers around the country.
Releasing the Plan, the ACECQA said that throughout 2021, Australian Governments and sector stakeholders closely collaborated to develop Shaping Our Future, a 10-year strategy (2022–31) to ensure a sustainable, high-quality children’s education and care workforce.
It said the Implementation and Evaluation Plan detailed how the Strategy’s 21 national workforce actions would be progressed.
Welcoming the Plan, the ACT Education Directorate said it included the development of a Canberra-specific Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) strategy to raise the profile of the ECEC workforce, value the work of educators, and increase professional recognition.
“It will be developed to align with the National Children’s Education and Care Workforce Strategy and will include developing educator professional standards, increasing coaching and mentoring opportunities, and establishing a professional learning fund for non-government educators,” the Directorate said.
It said that under the Plan, the Territory’s early childhood teaching scholarships are to increase annually from four places to 16.
It said the Plan also established Communities of Practice between ACT public schools and ECECs and Preschool Pathways Partners to work with educators in the Territory’s public preschools and ECECs to build their knowledge, confidence and capacity in inclusive practices and transitions.
The 41-page Implementation and Evaluation Plan can be accessed at this PS News link and the 60-page Shaping Our Future Strategy at this link.
