That ICPA (Aust) advocates to the Federal Minister for Education, the Federal Minister for Early Childhood Education, and the Federal Minister for Housing to recognise accommodation for early childhood teachers and educators as essential enabling infrastructure for the delivery and sustainability of Early Childhood Education and Care services in rural and remote communities.
The first 5 years of a child’s life are vitally important for development in all areas, including cognitive, physical and social. While the State and Federal Governments have worked hard to establish and sustain early childhood education services in remote and very remote locations, it is very hard to attract teachers and educators to these areas.
The ability of rural and remote early childhood education and care centres to provide sustainable operations depends on reliable and steady staffing, meaning they can provide consistent care environments that improve long-term educational outcomes. A major barrier to achieving this is accommodation, it is extremely scarce and what is available is expensive for educators top access.
When educators’ accommodation infrastructure is recognised as essential then this ripples through the wider community, consistent staff due to access to housing flow into consistent operational hours of care, providing consistent and reliable support to the local employment market and preventing rural and remote towns developing into “childcare deserts”.
