Philosophy

The Early Childhood Council is an incorporated society governed by an elected executive representing the interests of owners and managers of independent early childhood centres.

The main aim of the Council is to encourage member centres to provide a high quality early childhood service which is professional, viable, cost effective and appropriate to the needs of the local community and a dynamic and valued asset to all involved in the service. This Council believes:

• THAT the parents who use early childhood services have the right to choose between a wide range of services and that each child should be entitled to the same level of government funding irrespective of the type of centre or management style they choose;
• THAT the provision of quality childcare services can be effectively and efficiently met by a broad range of individually managed and motivated centres that provide a choice for parents and children;
• THAT individual employers and staff have the right to enter into mutually satisfactory pay rates, terms and conditions of employment without interference from any third party or regulations;
• THAT independent early childhood centres have the right to provide their own training opportunities with students having equal entitlement to state resources irrespective of the type of accredited training institution;
• THAT the funding of these services can be met effectively by a mix of user fees and government funding, supported with enterprising and sound businesslike management;
• THAT a professional and nationally co-ordinated organisation run by community, independent and private licencees is the best way to provide effective representation and engage in activities to the benefit of members;
• THAT the continued viability and special character of community, independent and private centres is best protected by effective lobbying and an on-going public relations involvement by a strong representative organisation;
• THAT the regulations relating to the provision of early childhood care and education should be simple, universally applied, unambiguous and restricted to those matters which ensure the basic education, health, care and safety needs of the child. Other factors should be left for the judgement of the parents, staff and management who constitute the centre.