ECA welcomes Committee report on education in remote and complex places

Early Childhood Australia (ECA) has welcomed the release of a report from the House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training following an inquiry into the education of students in remote and complex environments.

The report provides a review of early childhood education and recognises the many barriers preventing young children in remote communities from accessing early education and care.

ECA CEO, Samantha Page said she was pleased to see the specific focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and supports the five recommendations tailored to the early education sector.

In order to improve the educational outcomes for children in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, Ms Page said, a national approach to addressing the challenges of delivering early education in remote and complex environments is needed. ‘ECA strongly endorses the Standing Committee’s recommendation to provide up to 30 hours per week of subsidised early education and care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children through mobile services and distance education for geographically isolated families,’ she added.

Following the release of the report, ECA renewed their call to commonwealth, state and territory governments to invest in quality Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled integrated early years services. ‘Careful design and delivery of quality early learning services for these children is likely to generate lifelong benefits, for both individuals and communities’ Ms Page said, adding that in order to improve early learning in remote Australia both national attention and leadership are required.

As such ECA would like to see an aligned and coordinated approach from both the state and federal level, to implement the recommendations of the committee. “ECA urges the government to accept all the recommendations and to give particular attention to the circumstances and needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children with additional needs” a statement from ECA read.