20 NovThriving through change: our year in review
By Sue West, ELAA Board Chair and Tim Watts, ELAA Interim CEO
We would like to thank you our members, colleagues and friends in this sector, for your dedication to delivering high-quality early learning services and positively impacting the lives of Australian children and t high-quality
With the continued roll-out of the ambitious Best Start, Best Life reforms we have navigated a range of complex challenges together over the past year, some of the notable changes include:
- Continuing growth in the ECEC workforce and in the number of kindergarten services in operation to meet the BSBL universal access goals for kindergarten at ages three and four.
- Commitments for 20 new kindergartens on school sites delivering an additional 2,600 kindergarten places in suburbs and towns from St Arnaud to Yea.
- Launch of Early Learning Victoria, the Victorian Department of Education’s own network of integrated long day care and kindergarten services.
- The Australian Government’s announcement of 15% pay increases for early childhood educators working in long day care, linked to a 4.4% fee growth cap.
- Kick-off of bargaining for the 2025 VECTEA agreement in an environment of challenging state government budget conditions.
Achieving this scale of transformation is not easy, but the progress we have made is thanks to your dedication and goodwill. Achievements we would like to highlight this year include:
Looking ahead, our topline goals are:
- Sector Reform – – We will support all members to successfully navigate the transformation currently underway to universal access to Early Childhood Education and Care services for all 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds.
- Workforce Retention and Growth – We will support member organisations to be talent attractors and developers, and to provide the employee experience which has long been the expectation in schools and other sectors, but varying in the ECEC sector.
- Stronger Voice – We will increase the rigour and impact of our advocacy on behalf of our members to funders, regulators and policymakers.
We encourage our members to actively engage with us—whether by attending events, participating in reference groups, or sharing valuable feedback—to support our collective success. Together, we look forward to thriving through change and building a stronger future.
This article is originally published in our 2024 Annual Report, co-written by ELAA’s Chair of the Board, Sue West and ELAA Interim CEO, Tim Watts. CLICK HERE to read the original article and our 2024 annual report.
