Start Early was developed by experienced educators, experts and researchers. It is based on longstanding research, practice and understandings about early childhood, young children, children’s behaviour, wellbeing and developmental stages. It is firmly grounded in Australia’s National Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), the core resource that guides early childhood educators in their practice. Click here to redirect to the National Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF).

New on Start Early: Building belonging

“Building Belonging” is a comprehensive toolkit for early childhood educators that encourages respect for cultural diversity. The toolkit includes an ebook, songs with actions, educator guide, as well as posters and lesson plans. The “Building belonging” toolkit is available for free on the Australian Human Right’s Commission website. Click here to learn more. 

Fostering empathy in the early years

Fostering empathy is an important part of fostering strong, respectful relationships for life. Two short videos explore the topic. One, for adults, is an animation with voiceover by Brené Brown, researcher, story-teller and professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Humourous and easy to watch, the animation distinguishes between sympathy and empathy and how one drives disconnection while the other fuels connection.

A second video from the Sesame Street Workshop Team features Mark Ruffalo and the Grouch discussing empathy.

About Start Early

The Start Early modules draw on expert resources including Early Childhood Australia’s Everyday Learning Series (EDL) titles. The EDL titles are short publications that can support your practice. To explore respectful relationships, gender stereotypes and the father’s impact in children’s early learning, ECA has the following titles available in the ECA Shop. These publications are available either in print or as an ebook.

• Belonging: At the heart of relating to others by Carmel Richardson
• Children’s sexual development and behaviour — Pants aren’t rude by Pam Linke
• The role of fathers in children’s early learning by Richard Fletcher
• Play and Quality in Early Childhood: Educating Superheroes and Fairy Princesses by Dr. C. Glenn Cupit.

These publications and many more relating to early childhood education and care are available at the Early Childhood Australia Shop. Click here to redirect to the ECA Shop.

For further reading and related topics, try the following list of websites and resources.

Resources for early childhood educators and parents

Dau, E. (Ed.). (2001), The anti-bias approach in early childhood (2nd ed.), Sydney: Addison Wesley Longman.

Derman-Sparks, L. and Olsen Edwards, J. (2012), Anti-bias Education for young children and ourselves, NAEYC books, Washington, second printing.

Fletcher, R. (2012) The Dad Factor, Finch Publishing, Sydney.

Fletcher, R. (2016) ‘Engaging fathers in the early childhood space: why and how?’, PDF slides of conference keynote address, presented at This is Childhood, ECA National Conference, 8 October 2016.

Martin, L., K. (2008). Please knock before you enter: Aboriginal regulation of outsiders and the implications for researchers, Teneriffe, Qld: Post Pressed.

MacNaughton, G. (2003), Shaping early childhood: Learners, curriculum and contexts, England: Open University Press.

Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA), (2016), Violence is not our culture, short film.

White, E. (2015), Introducing Dialogic Pedagogy, Routledge 2015.

Webinars and webcasts

Self-regulation development: strategies for working with children and parents is a recorded webinar by researcher Dr Kate William that explores how to aid children in ;earning to control their own behaviour, emotions and thoughts in beneficial ways . Educators (and parents) can play an important role in helping children to develop better self-regulation skills.

Teaching young children to manage their emotions in early childhood education and care settings is a recorded webinar by Child Psychiatrist  Dr Kaylene Henderson. In this webinar, adapted from the ‘Raising Good Kids’ online course series, you will learn a research-based approach to helping children calm down when they’re feeling upset, angry stressed or overwhelmed.

Engaging fathers in the early childhood space; why and how? Today’s fathers want to engage with their young children in new ways and early childhood educators have exactly the information and strategies that fathers are looking for, according to Professor Richard Fletcher (University of Newcastle’s Family Action Centre). If you missed the ECA 2016 National Conference, Professor Fletcher shares his insights in this keynote webcast.

Father involvement

SMS4 Dads — an app and text message system for fathers with newborn babies. This service sends new dads timely tips via SMS about parenting, supporting your partner, and a baby’s development, as well as reminding fathers to look after themselves.

Stayin’ On Track — a website for Aboriginal fathers created by Aboriginal men in Newcastle, Moree and Tamworth areas. Supported by the University of Newcastle, Stayin’ On Track provides information, videos and support to young Indigenous fathers.

‘When Men Change’ (2015), produced by Promundo. Cross-cultural short video tells the story of four men who changed the way they think about gender equality, sexual and reproductive health, and violence. Explores how men can contribute to promoting gender equality and preventing violence against women and girls.

Children’s exposure to family violence

Campo, M. (2015), Children’s Exposure to Domestic and family violence: Key issues and responses Child family Community Australia, Information Exchange paper No. 36 2015, Australian Institute of Family Studies

Early Childhood Australia, Every Child Magazine vol 21 No 1 2015, Supporting Children’s Rights.

Trauma in early childhood 

The effect of trauma on the brain development of children is a research paper developed by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The paper provides an overview of current research about children’s cognitive development and provides principles to support effective practice responses to support children with trauma.

Trauma-informed care in child/family welfare services is a research paper developed by the Australian Institute of Family Studies.This paper looks to define what trauma-informed service delivery means within child and family welfare services, to be able to help those dealing with trauma and ensure the best outcomes for individuals and families.

The Australian Childhood Foundation also offers a number of resources about trauma recovery and trauma-informed practice on their website.

New from the Learning Hub: Supporting children’s self regulation

Click here to learn more or to purchase.

Violence against women. Let’s Stop it at the Start. 

Respect.gov.au is an initiative of the Australian Federal Government in response to a  research report Reducing violence against women and their children, commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Social Services.

• 1 in 3 women has been a victim of physical or sexual violence, since the age of 15, by someone known to them. (2012 Personal Safety Survey, ABS)
• 1 in 4 women have been emotionally abused by a partner. (2012 Personal Safety Survey, ABS)
• 1 woman dies almost every week at the hands of a current or former partner. (2015 Australian Institute of Criminology report)

Watch the television campaign, Respect, below. 

Our Watch is a campaign which has been established to drive nation-wide change in the culture, behaviours and attitudes that underpin and create violence against women and children. The video, Let’s Change our Story, produced by VicHealth, Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) and Our Watch, can be viewed below.