19 JunELAA CEO update 19 June 2019
ELAA has been working in close consultation with members, the State Government and Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET) around the administrative and financial challenges currently faced by many not-for-profit early childhood service providers. In a pleasing development, ELAA was informed this morning of a one-off grant fund for Early Years Managers to support them with the change management required for school readiness funding, including effectively supporting services operating under an EYM to get the most out school readiness funding. The grant will also enable providers to embed inclusive practice across multiple services, such as enabling the implementation of the EarlyABLES tool that supports the inclusion of children with a disability or developmental delay. We’ll have more news to share on this in the coming weeks once the scope and timing of the funding has been confirmed by DET.
Whilst ELAA is still waiting on formal approval from the Federal Workplace Relations Minister to commence bargaining for the next Victorian Early Childhood Teachers and Educators Award, regular informal discussions between ELAA, its members (via the Industrial Relations Working Group) and the AEU have been taking place to set the scene early. We’re hopeful to commence formal negotiations in the coming month and will keep members up-to-date with all the latest outcomes as things progress.
By now, many services are busily completing capacity assessment surveys to assist DET to understand the scope, challenges and opportunities attached to phase 1 of the three-year-old kindergarten expansion program. ELAA is in the process of recruiting an extra staff member to provide face-to-face and telephone support to all Victorian services regarding the expansion program. We are also developing supporting collateral that will further assist services during the program roll-out. The record levels of funding and commitment by the State Government for this initiative are to be commended and no doubt the rest of Australia and the world will be watching our progress closely.
I look forward to chatting to you all again soon and hope you are all keeping warm as winter really sets in!
Regards
David Worland
CEO – ELAA
