“That ICPA Qld lobbies the Department of Education (DoE) to relocate the eKindy teacher for the geographic region of Northwest Queensland from the Brisbane School of Distance Education to Mount Isa School of the Air to improve communication, context, community and above all else improve outcomes for the eKindy students.”
There has been significant support for the eKindy program in northwest Queensland and the early learning program is helping to set our little learners up for formal education. However there have been several instances where a disconnect between the decision-makers and the community has disadvantaged the eKindy students.
Decisions have been made in an office in Brisbane, thousands of kilometres away from the eKindy child in Kynuna NWQ or Borroloola NT. The decisions were made without consultation of the parents, or the Mount Isa School of the Air community.
Instead of the eKindy kids being included in face-to-face events in regional areas, families now must travel hundreds of kilometres to Mount Isa to attend an eKindy day which does not align with the school calendar, causing disruption to sibling learning and imposing huge costs for travel and accommodation.
The BSDE was seeking to make a blanket policy ruling, but we know all regions are different; some have access to a one-day a week State-delivered Kindy program, some have access to a C&K and some don’t. It is not acceptable to try and stick a square peg in a round hole.
Equal isn’t always fair and fair isn’t always equal.
There is precedence for this with the Queensland Children’s Hospital School, where the eKindy teachers moved under the school umbrella after a 12-month trial.
The Mount Isa School of the Air have also verbalised their support, stating it will assist in:
- resource planning
- familiarity with the systems, processes and values of the school
- integrating the whole family into one school
- minimising clashing calendars and extra travel
- creating opportunities to minimise the gap between eKindy and Prep
Embedding the eKindy program in the Mount Isa School of the Air will allow for greater integration into the school community, improved communications and decision-making which reflects the context of the school community.
