That ICPA (Aust) advocates to the Federal Minister for Education, the Federal Minister for Early Childhood Education, and the Federal Minister for existing capital funding streams, including the Building Early Education Fund and key worker housing programs such as the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF), to be made available for the construction, purchase, leasing, or subsidisation of accommodation for early childhood teachers and educators in rural and remote communities.
If Early childhood education and care centres in rural and remote areas could access multiple streams of funds to support educators to secure housing the burden will not be placed on individuals, centers and the small pool of families who access essential rural and remote early childhood care and education centres.
The lack of housing and accommodation available for early childhood educators in very remote communities like Tibooburra is even more acutely felt. The town has one public school and one not for profit early childhood education facility, they are located directly across the road from each other.
A person who wants to live and work with children in Tibooburra is much more likely to choose the job that comes with state teacher subsidised housing, which is the public school. This in turn adds another layer to the recruitment and retention of staff for the early childhood education facility cross the road, as they don’t have access to the subsidised teacher housing.
