I chose to explore the website for “Early Childhood Australia” (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au).  I had investigated early childhood issues elsewhere across the world in past courses, but was curious to see what Australia is focusing on.  The site is comprehensive and shares their vision:

“Early Childhood Australia (ECA) has been a voice for young children since 1938. We are the peak early childhood advocacy organisation, acting in the interests of young children, their families and those in the early childhood field. ECA advocates to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children aged birth to eight years.” (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au)

In order to determine areas of research, I went through the indexes of two of the organizations publications, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood and Research in Practice (because of cost and requirement to purchase to look further, I was limited to looking at the index).  Among the topics covered in these publications, included ‘using strengths-based approaches in early childhood’, ’empowering families through encouraging their roles in the classroom and in the home’, ‘documenting and assessing early learning’, and ‘connecting with babies and toddlers’.

A (pleasantly) surprising idea and program I found on the site was the “Kids Matter” program and curriculum:

“KidsMatter has been developed in collaboration with the Commonwealth Government Department of Health, beyondblue, the Australian Psychological Society, Principals Australia Institute and Early Childhood Australia.

KidsMatter Early Childhood works with early childhood education and care services to support the mental health and wellbeing of young children, their families and early childhood educators using a promotion, prevention and early intervention framework.

Experiences in the early years affect long-term mental health, relationships and learning. This knowledge forms the foundation of our work with educators” (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au).

I was really glad to see this program, as it directly addresses social emotional development and mental health, through development of four topics including: sense of community, development of social emotional skills, working with parents and families, and helping children experiencing mental health difficulties.  This topic is important to me, and I was glad to see the organization takes it seriously in creating this program.  This is a program I would love to use in my own classroom and would like to see America take a page from.  Addressing development and focus among mental health and social emotional development is critical if we want to prepare children positively to be successful in the their short-term and long-term lives.