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Is it time to upgrade your interactive display? Here’s why its easier, and more affordable, than you think
Jason Roberts
Oct 03, 2023
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Over the course of the last several years there has been a change in the degree of commitment and focus that kindergartens and preschools across Australia are receiving from state and territory governments.
As New South Wales Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car said on the release of the NSW 2024 Budget, “This government is committed to making sure all children in NSW get the best start in life. Achieving that goal includes making the investments necessary to make preschool more affordable and accessible for all families.”This sentiment is being replicated across the country and alongside it comes a substantial push to ensure that kindergarten and school readiness programs being delivered in services across Australia are meeting the needs of children and the expectations of families.
“There is no doubt that the focus on kindergarten and preschools now is many degrees higher than it was before COVID-19,” Jonathan Lee, Business Manager for Interactive Display ANZ at BenQ said.
“With that the early childhood education and care (ECEC) community more broadly is seeking new and innovative ways for educational and developmental milestones to be met.”
“As a global leader in interactive display technology we are very well placed to support these objectives and, understandably against the backdrop of Government support and parental focus, are on the receiving end of surge in interest for our display solutions.”
Outdated interactive whiteboards lack smarts to supercharge school readiness programs
The way in which modern interactive display boards can boost interactivity, encourage collaboration, allow for different modes of learning and above all prepare children more completely for their transition to school is being increasingly understood.
These capabilities far oustrip dated interactive whiteboards, many of which have now been rendered virtually unusable. Because of this gradual decline into obsolescence many of these boards sit in early learning spaces mostly unused, given the challenges services have with installation, the calibration of the projectors and what to do if something isn’t working properly.
“It is very common for services to have a whiteboard with older technology that they acquired with some funding help back in 2015,” Mr Lee said. “Often services used this technology for a few years before finding that it just wasn’t adding any meaningful value to their school readiness programs.”
“There has been such a huge jump in the quality of the technology incorporated in modern interactive displays and given how closely we work with our user community it is clear that once installed and integrated into programming there is no comparison.”
The simplicity of transitioning from an old whiteboard to a new display is really as simple as unplugging one and plugging in the other, a process made extra easy through a set of supported training modules, both in person and online.
Affordability improved dramatically with support of kindergarten funding resources
With Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland having committed to transformational changes to their year before school early education programs opportunities to re-evaluate and purchase tools needed to deliver school readiness programs abound.
Interactive display boards, as a core educational resource, would be top of that list and are covered in the following streams:
Queensland - As part of the “Base Subsidy” stream for kindergartens in long day care (LDC) providers are able to spend 25 per cent of funds received on quality and age-appropriate resources specifically for eligible children. This subsidy amounts to $468.62 per eligible child per annum for LDCs with the equivalent amount for sessional kinders substantially higher at $3,618.30 per child per annum.
New South Wales - The NSW Start Strong Funding program allows for (amongst other things) the “purchase of functional or educational resources (excluding capital works projects) for the benefit of all children aged 4 and above” which would include interactive display boards. Children who are enrolled for 600 hours or more in the program will receive the full rate of funding of $960 per year and those enrolled for under 600 hours will receive $643.
Victoria - As part of the Victorian 2023/24 Budget a commitment to a new stream for educational toys and equipment funding was established for funded kindergartens across the state with $5,000 made available for each one to spend.
The remaining states and territories across Australia have committed to funding 15 hours of preschool as part of the Preschool Funding Agreement with opportunities for both Government and non Government services to participate.
“The abundance of support now available for early learning providers to ensure their kinder and preschool programs are meeting the needs of children and expectations of families is deeply encouraging,” Mr Lee said.
“We as an organisation have a long history of supporting the ECEC sector with their educational technology needs and will continue to do so going forward.”
To learn more about how BenQ’s suite of interactive display boards can enhance your learning environment, click here or visit BenQ.com/en-au/education/preschool-education.html.
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