The Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) congratulates the Australian Government and in particular Assistant Minister for Education Sussan Ley on the launch of the Professional Development Guidelines of the Long Day Care Professional Development Programme (LDCPLP) and their resolution to divert the funds from the Labor government's unfair and ill-conceived Early Years Quality Fund (EYQF).

The fund will now provide Professional Development opportunities to all educators engaged in an Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) long day care service.

"All educators will now have the opportunity to participate in this fund through the provision of Professional Development in a non-competitive, fair and equitable manner," Ms Bridge said.

The Governments' commitment to continuing Professional Development will support and empower educators to further develop and scaffold their expertise and to set new goals as they expand on their current knowledge base through a variety of learning opportunities.

Professional Development is a valuable life time asset to educators particularly in an ECEC setting where they are accountable for continual improvement in providing high quality education and care programs to children during their most significant learning years.

With the hasty introduction of the National Quality Framework on 1 January 2012, no provision had been made by government at the time to provide professional development to assist educators with the implementation of the National Law, National Regulations and the new National Quality Standards.

This has placed a strain on educators and services and this Fund will now provide them with the opportunity to engage in training and development programs to embed this knowledge into practice.

ACA, representing 70 per cent of the private long day child care sector and the staff who care for more than 400,000 young children, is confident that quality in the sector will be improved by the injection of these funds for professional development.

ENDS

Media enquiries: Gwynn Bridge, ACA President - 0418 764 779