An assessment and rating (A&R) notification can be an exciting time for an early childhood education and care (ECEC) service, but uncertainty around the process can make some educators, particularly those who have not been through A&R before, feel nervous. 

Watchdog’s latest report says childcare in Australia is ‘relatively less affordable for households than in most other OECD countries.

Price caps and naming and shaming providers that charge too much are among the options currently being considered by the government to limit runaway childcare costs, Education Minister Jason Clare has said.

The Fair Work Commission has approved the making of a supported bargaining authorisation that will allow key ECEC stakeholders to start wage negotiations. These negotiations could lead to an agreement to increase wages for educators.

Bree Gaymer paid $160 to secure her son a spot in free kinder – and she considers herself lucky to get in at all. Victorian families have been left scrambling for kinder places after skyrocketing demand began forcing centres to turn away families at the eleventh hour.

New South Wales based early childhood education and care (ECEC) providers Gowrie NSW and Big Fat Smile have become the latest large providers to join an application to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to start wage negotiations initially lodged by three unions on 6 June 2023.