From the Start Early Team: Thank You

Four weeks into Start Early and look how far we’ve come—nearly 1,000 registrations for our free online modules since our launch on March 31.

From all of us at Early Childhood Australia’s Start Early team: thank you.

This overwhelming response comes after a joint initiative by federal, state and territory governments to prevent family and domestic violence, Stop it at the start, an initiative to prevent family and domestic violence by fostering respectful relationships in the early years.

Educators are likely to spend more time with a child than a general medical practitioner, second only to time spent by parents or caregivers. It is essential that when we look to prevent domestic and family violence in the long term, we harness and support educator expertise in guiding respectful relationships in the early years.

In a recent report, Reducing violence against women and their children, researchers found that ‘from an early age, young people begin to believe there are reasons and situations that can make disrespectful behaviour acceptable’, and that, ‘girls blame themselves… rather than questioning the behaviour of the male.’
blog se

Here’s what professionals within the ECEC sector had to say about Start Early’s three free modules.

Thank you for this wonderful resource. I have just completed the training and will offer it to all my staff to do this year as part of their Professional Development training.

My staff come from a very culturally diverse background and work in a very challenging environment but the training is very easy to follow and you can do it at you own pace.

– Julia Cornelius, Educational Leader, Doveton College

As an Early Childhood Teacher at TAFE I was incredibly impressed with these modules. I found them to cover essential areas in a format that was interesting and easy for participants to follow. Excellent critical reflection incorporated too. Well done! I wish these modules were compulsory for every Educator in ECEC.

– Carre Chambers, Early Childhood TAFE Teacher

Start Early has also garnered praise from beyond the sector. White Ribbon CEO Libby Davies,

commend[ed] Early Childhood Australia for their efforts in preventing domestic and family violence. It is essential that early childhood educators are provided with effective resources to support teaching healthy, safe and respectful relationships at the most critical time of a child’s development, while attitudes and behaviours are still being formed. The issue of domestic and family violence requires a comprehensive, whole of community response.

blog-se2

CEO of Domestic Violence NSW, Ms Moo Baulch says,

It’s now widely accepted that we urgently need action at all levels across all our communities if we are going to effectively challenge domestic and family violence in Australia. Evidence-based strategies, consistent messages and age appropriate education are essential to build young children’s’ capacity for healthy, positive relationships.

That’s why Domestic Violence NSW welcomes Start Early… If we can foster young children’s relationships skills now, it will be a major step towards preventing domestic and family violence and gender inequality in future generations.

We couldn’t agree more.

Start Early is a free professional development packaged aimed at educators, supported by the NSW Government.

Start Early has gathered further resources from leading Australian bodies, for more information, click here.