More than fifty invited participants attended the AEU's national early childhood forum in Melbourne on 21 October 2003.

The other papers from the morning session of the forum will be available on the Inquiry webpage in the near future.

The participants included representatives of six state and territories' Government Departments; the Commonwealth Departments of Education and of Family and Community Services; Early Childhood Australia; ACER; ACSSO; ACOSS: ACTU; Australian Institute of Family Studies; NZEI; academics; and members of the AEU National Early Childhood Committee.

Speakers in the morning session were:
Ms Rosslyn Noonan, Chief Commissioner, Human Rights Commission Te Kähui Tika Tangata, New Zealand “Early childhood education: from optional extra to essential / from privilege to right.”

Professor Margaret Reynolds, President, UN Association of Australia
“Making Australia child- friendly” (PDF format)

Addressing access and equity: case studies

Ms Jenni Connor, Principal Project Officer, Department of Education Tasmania (Powerpoint format)

Mr Ken Davies, General Manager School Services and Ms Georgie Nutton, Program Manager Early Years within the Curriculum Services Branch, Department of Employment, Education and Training, Northern Territory (Powerpoint format)

In the afternoon session, the Inquiry's Independent Researcher, Ms Kathy Walker, heard submissions from a range of organisations and individuals.

Click here to see a full listing of participants.

On Monday 20 October, a pre-forum session enabled participants to exchange information about the structures of early childhood education in each state and territory, current research projects and other information.

Invitational state forums for the Inquiry are being organised. The terms of reference are available if you wish to make a submission to the inquiry.