Workforce
Quality outcomes for children depend upon a highly skilled, well-supported and professionally recognised workforce. Investment in the sector and its workforce leads to improved and more equitable educational and developmental outcomes for children. Australian governments and sector stakeholders have closely collaborated to develop Shaping Our Future, a ten-year strategy (2022-2031) to ensure a sustainable, high-quality children’s education and care workforce.
High quality children’s education and care sets the foundations for lifelong learning, wellbeing and development. Education Ministers recognise the critical importance of the children’s education and care sector.
ACECQA maintains the Shaping Our Future dashboard that tracks progress against the 21 nationally agreed actions and includes complementary initiatives that support the six focus areas of the national workforce strategy.
On behalf of all governments, ACECQA hosts biennial National Workforce Forums, the first of which was held in November 2023. These forums are an important component of Shaping Our Future.
To complement the strategy, ACECQA has published a workforce snapshot to bring together a range of different data sets to provide a sector workforce profile.
This action in Shaping Our Future involved a comprehensive review of the current NQF staffing and qualification regulations with the aim to improve consistency, support quality and reduce complexity.
This action in Shaping Our Future involved a comprehensive review of the ACECQA Board’s requirements for early childhood teaching programs under the NQF.