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National Children’s Week is celebrated each year across Australia, around the fourth Wednesday in October, to advocate for the rights of children.
For 2021, National Children’s Week will be held from 23 October 2021 to 30 October 2021.
To mark the occasion, a diverse range of events and activities are organised at National, State and Local levels to focus the attention of the wider community on children, their rights and achievements, and promote the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
An article from the Convention is selected by the Children’s Week Council of Australia each year as the theme.
2021 seeks to promote Article 15 - The right of children to freedom of association and freedom of peaceful assembly (the right of children to choose their own friends and safely connect with others).
We encourage all of our members to get involved in National Children’s Week 2021 and participate in, or even host, an event or activity to promote the right of all children to a safe, healthy and happy childhood.
You can find out more about National Children’s Week here.
As a member of the National Co-design Stakeholder Reference Group, the peak consultative body appointed by ACECQA for the development of the National Workforce Strategy, Family Day Care Australia (FDCA) is proud to have contributed to the new National Children’s Education and Care Workforce Strategy (2022-2031) - ‘Shaping our Future’, which was launched recently by ACECQA.
The National Workforce Strategy is designed to support the recruitment, retention, sustainability and quality of the early childhood education and care workforce. It acknowledges and builds on existing workforce related initiatives, as well as a range of recent and ongoing initiatives launched by the sector. FDCA has been instrumental in leading the charge for recognition and consideration of the family day care sector within the National Workforce Strategy.
The National Strategy provides a living roadmap for ongoing collaboration and partnership between governments, service providers, education and training providers, peak associations, regulatory bodies, educators and teachers, and their representative bodies.
Page 21 of the National Workforce Strategy quotes FDCA Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Paterson: “Family day care is an essential element of Australia’s early childhood education and care landscape. Not only does the sector enable flexible workforce participation, playing a particularly important role in regional communities, but it also represents an opportunity for greater engagement of Australians in small business - family day care educators currently comprise one of Australia's largest networks of women in small business.”
Our participation in the National Co-design Stakeholder Reference Group has been an important part of our ongoing advocacy strategy and will ensure the family day care sector is well represented in all major workforce initiatives moving forward.
To read the National Workforce Strategy or find out more about the history of its development, visit ACECQA’s website here.
Would you like to take part in a research study looking into the health and wellbeing of educators?
Edith Cowan University is currently conducting a research study to better understand the health and wellbeing of family day care educators and the factors that may affect this – so your input is invaluable!
Part of the research involves collecting responses via a questionnaire. The questionnaire is open to all family day care educators who are registered with an approved service.
Click here to have your say and participate in this worthwhile project.
The questionnaire will take approximately 20 minutes to complete and all data collected will remain confidential.
Further information can be obtained by clicking on the link or by contacting the researcher Theresa Rayfield at trayfiel@our.ecu.edu.au or Principal Supervisor Dr Ruth Wallace at ruth.wallace@ecu.edu.au
The FDCA Member Zone, your hub for a diverse range of family day care tools, resources and content, designed to assist you in the day-to-day running of your business and support your long term career goals.
What’s inside the FDCA Member Zone?
Through your FDCA Member Zone, you’ll have access to:
Services are also able to access their very own Compliance Dashboard, which allows FDCA service members to easily manage and monitor the status of a number of key regulatory obligations.
Activating your Member Zone
To activate your FDCA Member Zone account, simply complete the following steps:
1. Visit www.fdca.com.au/activate
2. Enter your registered email address
3. An email will be sent to your email address, click on the Create Password button in the email
4. Enter and confirm your password.
5. Visit www.fdca.com.au, click on Member Login and enter your email address and password to login. It’s that easy!
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