UWU announces new professional partnership with ECA

The United Workers Union this morning announced the launch of a new professional development program for its member base, with the online component to be offered via a partnership with Early Childhood Australia (ECA).  

To be known as Big Steps Professional Learning, the bulk of the program will be offered freely for union members, and includes e-learning, scholarships and masterclasses.

The Big Steps Professional Learning program will include: 

• A partnership with the ECA to deliver free online professional development packages to United Workers Union members
• Face to face masterclasses on each topic, to be delivered in locations across the country by a variety of facilitators
• Scholarships to exciting events such as the national ECA Conference in Brisbane in September, and the Reconciliation Symposium in Darwin in May
• Interviews and Facebook Live events with key figures in the early education sector.

“Early education is a dynamic sector, and educators work hard to update skills and to stay current with theory and best practice. They have spoken loud and clear, telling us they want high quality professional learning from the most reputable providers” Helen Gibbons, Executive Director of Early Childhood Education for the Union, said. 

“We are excited to work with ECA to deliver some of their key online programs for free to Union members” she added, explaining that the program was shaped and developed based on feedback from Union members who shared their experiences and their key requirements for professional development, from which the Union created a program which they believe will benefit educators across the country.”

By using the online capacity of the ECA platform, the Union hopes to remove barriers to accessing Professional Development for its members by removing cost and geographical constraints and creating equitable access across all qualifications and roles.

“We have a long history of working with ECA to lift standards in the early childhood education sector, and we are already planning further training programs where we will work with a range of facilitators and training providers” Ms Gibbons said, noting that the “excellent online learning packages” from ECA would form the foundation of the program.

With the launch of the program today (Friday 6 March 2020), educators can now register for the first online package of the program: Equity and Inclusion: Additional Needs delivered in partnership with ECA, along with a series of face to face masterclasses delivered in partnership with Gowrie Tasmania and Inclusion Support.  

The scholarships will commence with offering 5 fully funded places for members to attend the 2020 ECA Reconciliation Symposium in Darwin.

United Workers Union members are invited to sign up for online packages and apply for scholarships using this link.