The urgent need to address the closures of early learning centres in country towns, and the lack of staff to work in them, was part of the six-point action plan presented to Queensland's politicians in Brisbane on Wednesday.
A group representing an alliance of 30 organisations announced the launch of an early years action plan in front of Parliament House, among them Holly Mortimer of Royal Far West, who said the first item, universal access to kindergarten for all children aged 3 and 4, was pivotal for them.
"It's particularly important seeing those kids in rural and remote areas being able to access that early childhood support before they get to school age," she said.
"We're seeing some children heading off to school for Prep and they haven't set foot inside an early learning centre before that.
"We're seeing parents having to drive, if they have the capacity to, 45 minutes to the next town to be able to see their kid go into a kindy before Prep, to be ready for school."
Coupled with that was the need to have a plan in place to have a well-equipped and well-resourced staff capacity in rural communities.
Ms Mortimer said that as a professional, it wasn't just about paying a good wage, it was about the support systems in place for teachers in rural and remote settings.
"It's all well and good to take a great cash influx to move to a country town but if you have no-one professionally supporting your development, to liaise with regularly, it can be a really isolating experience, and you can see that burnout and trauma that's passed down to clinicians and teaching staff," she said. "It leads to people only lasting really short term in these communities."
The action plan calls for a workforce strategy to attract and retain the best teachers, educators and experts in Queensland, and for local solutions that are connected communities.
Royal Far West's CEO Jacqui Emery said so many organisations in Queensland had come together to endorse the plan because they were deeply driven to see every Queensland child have the opportunity of accessing a fully stitched together early childhood development system.
Other rural voices in the alliance are Bush Kids, Outback Futures, and the Minderoo Foundation.
United Workers Union executive director, Helen Gibbons said the sector's workforce was in crisis.
"This has resulted in a multitude of issues impacting the delivery of services to the early childhood sector, including one in four centres applying for staffing waivers, centres capping enrolments, and childcare deserts in many areas in regional Queensland," she said.
"This results in children being unable to access quality early learning and placing Queensland children at risk of being left behind.
"There needs to be immediate action to improve pay and conditions for early learning educators and increase funding and professional development opportunities to attract and retain staff in the sector.
"There also needs to be immediate action to address affordability for families, including reviewing the Activity Test and fees for families."
Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
