On 14 June, the New South Wales Government announced an injection of $5.8 billion into the childcare sector over the next 10 years. This boost comes as a response to the statewide shortage of early childhood educators, as well as to build a sustainable pipeline of early childhood educators and teachers for tomorrow (New South Wales Liberal, 2022).

The importance of early childhood education has been found to not only help develop strong educational foundations in children, but also identify any health and development issues that might make learning difficult for students when they begin school (Baker, 2022). This play-based learning can have a positive correlation on vocabulary development, reasoning, and early numeracy skills development (Raper, 2022).

Currently 339,015 children aged four to five are enrolled in a preschool program, an increase of 1.3 percent on last year’s figures, according to the Australia Bureau of Statistics (2022). The majority of children aged four to five only attend preschool two days a week (Australia Bureau of Statistics, 2022) but from 2030, they will be able to access five days of childcare free of charge. Under this universal system of pre-kindergarten, children will be able to experience a full year of play-based learning before their first year of school (Raper, 2022). Additionally, more childcare centres will be built in ‘childcare deserts’ across suburban, regional and rural New South Wales where demand outweighs supply. Approximately nine million Australians or 35 per cent of the population live in neighborhoods that are classified as a childcare desert (Mitchell Institute, 2022).

The state government is also rolling out the ‘Perrottet package’, led by New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet, which will give Australian domestic students and permanent residents early childhood teacher higher education scholarships of up to $25,000 towards their degrees (New South Wales Liberal, 2022). This will form part of the 2022/2023 NSW Budget that is setting aside a $281.6 million workforce package (New South Wales Liberal, 2022). So why would students want to study their Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (Birth to 5) at Excelsia College? While experiencing intimate class sizes, and learning from passionate teachers with years of experience both in the classroom and designing pedagogy, our students get hands-on training and can form industry connections before they’ve competed their studies. Over their four years of study, Excelsia College students will undertake over 80 days of practicum experience and be confident to step foot in the classroom as a well-qualified early childhood teacher upon graduating.

So if you want to enter an industry that is continuing to grow in demand, why not consider Excelsia College’s Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (Birth to 5)? You will join at a time that the New South Wales Government supports the early childhood education and care workforce, as well as help future News South Wales children, families and the economy.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022). Preschool Education, Australia. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/education/preschool-education-australia/latest-release

Baker, J. (2022, June 16). ‘A game-changer’: NSW to introduce an extra year of education. Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-game-changer-nsw-to-introduce-an-extra-year-of-education-20220615-p5au02.html

Mitchell Institute. (2022). Childcare Deserts & Oases: How accessible is childcare in Australia? https://www.vu.edu.au/mitchell-institute/early-learning/childcare-deserts-oases-how-accessible-is-childcare-in-australia

New South Wales Liberal. (2022). Supercharging the early childhood workforce and sector. https://nswliberal.org.au/Shared-Content/News/2022/Supercharging-the-early-childhood-workforce-and-sector

Raper, A. (2022, June 16). NSW and Victorian governments plan new free year of preschool schooling within a decade. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-16/nsw-victoria-plan-for-new-preschool-year-education/101155350?fbclid=IwAR3ND1tp_zPXJrvJ5vHFs_DGVXEAyqxu1z0ERWqEVELAEL-HKld62QCQ5Ss