The number of children using Child Care Subsidy approved care fell in every state and territory in the June quarter of 2026 compared with a year earlier. At the same time, centre based day care services continued to grow nationally and average fees increased.
For Sparrow Early Learning, finding a childcare management system (CCMS) that could support their scale and ambitions was never going to be a decision made lightly. Sparrow needed a partner it could trust to operate at its scale for years to come, a structured migration plan, and support that protected educators, operational teams and, most importantly, children and families.
The Childcare Leadership Alliance (CLA) has reached a major organisational milestone, officially signing a direct Social Investment Project Contract with BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA).
Every child deserves a strong start to their learning. Victoria’s landmark universal three-year-old kindergarten reform is delivering just that. New findings from a major study at University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Education have revealed that children who receive two years of funded kindergarten compared to one year have an additional five-months of progress in language development and two to three-months of progress in memory and problem-solving skills by the time they begin school.
New data from Be You, Beyond Blue's mental health in education initiative, reveals that educators are becoming more confident in supporting everyday mental health concerns, but less confident their schools and early learning services are prepared to respond to critical incidents.
Early childhood and primary teacher, children’s author, and literacy advocate Poppy Yayakos has joined the World Literacy Foundation’s Sun Books: Global Children’s Library as an Author Patron, expanding her commitment to literacy that already reaches families throughout her community in Darwin, Australia.
A new national eLearning module from ACECQA provides educators and leaders with practical, evidence-informed guidance to strengthen inclusive practice across early childhood settings.
For many early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals, balancing work and family responsibilities presents both opportunities and challenges. One Brisbane-based educator’s experience highlights how workplace conditions, team culture and access to care can support sustained workforce participation.
Large early childhood education and care providers operating on a calendar-year reporting cycle are approaching a key compliance deadline, with financial reports due to the Department of Education by 1 May 2026.
Queensland’s Reforming Early Childhood Safety (RECS) Program signals a significant shift in how services build child-safe cultures, governance and workforce capability across the early childhood education and care sector.
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