Earlier this year, Liam was interviewed by Lecturer Kathrine Whitty for a video to her Masters students at the Australian Catholic University. It was an opportunity to discuss all things early education, including Liam's professional journey in the sector, and Kath and the ACU were kind enough to share the audio of the interview for the Early Education Show. 

We're back for a new fortnightly series! This week, we're tackling the Federal Government's Early Years Strategy. What is the context of this new strategy, and what do we think it should come up with?

We're back for a new fortnightly series! This week, we're tackling the Federal Government's Early Years Strategy. What is the context of this new strategy, and what do we think it should come up with?

We've been away for a while - but we couldn't let as big a year as 2022 pass without getting the gang back together.

The Federal Government has just released its Budget for 2021 and 2022, which - after sustained advocacy from a variety of people and organisations - includes increases in spending in many areas - including early education. But while billions of dollars are in the Budget papers, what is the devil in the detail? Joining us to break down Child Care Subsidy changes, universal preschool funding agreements and more red tape smashing, is the official fourth member of the podcast Karl Hessian!

There have been a spate of media articles recently concerning child sexual abuse linked to educators working in the early education sector. This episode, Lisa talks with Deanne Carson, a leading Australian sexuality educator, researcher, speaker, author and Founder and CEO of Body Safety Australia, on how educators and leaders can better ensure their spaces are safe for children.

Minister for Early Education in the Victorian Government, Ingrid Stitt MP, has been raising the alarm about continued uncertainty with the National Partnership on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education. Lisa chats with her about why this funding is so important, why the uncertainty creates so many challenges, and the reforms that the Victorian Government are putting in place with early education.

Under the National Quality Framework, professionals and services need to report a range of serious incidents to their regulatory authorities. But why don't we talk more about how services approach reporting and reporting behaviours with their teams? Leanne sits down with Big Fat Smile CEO Jenni Hutchins to discuss why a positive culture of reporting is so important.

In 2019, the second review of the National Quality Framework officially commenced. The Review aims to identify aspects of the NQF that could be improved or updated, and to incorporate new thinking about the regulation of early education. Earlier this year, the Consultation Regulation Impact Statement was released, which identifies options for changes to the NQF and what they might mean. There’s nothing we love more than a consultation process, so we spend this episode talking about the NQF Review in general, and a few things from the Regulation Impact Statement specifically.

We're back for another year of banter about all things early education in Australia! In our first episode of 2021, we let everyone know what we did on our summer holidays and reflect on the experiences of women that have been dominating the media so far this year.

We then spend the second half of the episode discussing what about the sector makes us optimistic in 2021.