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Jess Sugarman trained as a trained Occupational Therapist. She started her career developing early intervention programs in early childhood centres for children between two and five years old who presented with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In her talk at Catalyst’s early childhood education and care industry roundtable, Jess addressed the strategies that can be used to best support children who present with ASD or other behavioural difficulties. Watch Jessica’s industry […]

Tracking enrolments, attendance and fees, documenting children’s learning, staff development and effective hiring are vital when running a successful childcare service. Thankfully technology that has been developed, sometimes specifically for the child care industry, helps make the administration of early childhood more streamlined and efficient for everyone. In this article, we’ve flagged some great tools […]

Recently, we were reminded of how hard work and dedicated trainer support can transform a person from being an apprehensive student, nervous about studying, into a confident, job-ready candidate! A massive congratulations to Gemma Rubenstein for overcoming her study challenges and completing her  Diploma of School Age  Education and Care and taking this HUGE step towards achieving her career goals!   […]

There is no single way to approach early childhood education. In fact, there are a variety of educational philosophies old and new which childcare professionals draw upon. One renowned philosophy is the Reggio Emilia approach, and this article looks at what Reggio Emilia involves and the potential benefits of this approach in childcare settings. What […]

The first five years of life are fundamental to a child’s future. The most crucial period of rapid brain development takes place during these early years and lays the foundation for children’s health, happiness, growth and wellbeing. The first five years are also when a child will likely spend time in early childhood education services, […]

If you’re in Victoria and you’ve been researching your government-funded course options, or looking into what government funding is available to you for your early childhood education and care course, you have probably come across Skills First funding. The jargon can be confusing, so let’s do away with get clear on answers to questions like […]

Kindergarten usually refers to the year of education that leads up to commencing primary school. As a kindergarten teacher assistant, you’ll work with children who are aged between 3 and 5-years old. Kindergarten, kindy, pre-school, 3 or 4-year old kinder — whatever you know it as, just about everyone has fond memories of being in […]

Making the decision to study for the first time or to go back to study is not always straightforward. You may be going back and forth about the decision, or you may believe a career change is not within your reach. Having the confidence to see the potential of a change and your ability to […]

Separation anxiety is a normal part of development for children and while it doesn’t affect all children, it is pretty common. So if you are working in childcare jobs it is likely that you will come across varying degrees of separation anxiety in children as young as babies through to primary school age. It’s important […]