The National Children’s Education and Care Workforce Strategy aims to foster a sustainable and high-quality workforce of early childhood teachers and educators.
On this page:
About the strategy
The National Children’s Education and Care Workforce Strategy is called Shaping our Future. It aims to foster a sustainable and high-quality workforce of early childhood teachers and educators.
A highly skilled and well-supported workforce will:
- improve outcomes for children
- support women’s workforce participation.
The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) developed the strategy in collaboration with:
- the early childhood education and care sector
- the Australian Government
- all state and territory governments
- education and training providers
- peak organisations
- regulatory bodies.
The strategy is a living document. This ensures it can respond to emerging workforce challenges over the next 10 years.
Action areas
The strategy outlines 21 short, medium and long-term actions across 6 focus areas:
- professional recognition
- attraction and retention
- leadership and capability
- wellbeing
- qualifications and career pathways
- data and evidence.
These actions build on the investment by governments and the sector in workforce-related initiatives.
ACECQA has an online dashboard that tracks:
- progress against the 21 actions
- a range of complementary initiatives that support the 6 focus areas
- a set of overarching indicators to measure progress over the lifetime of the strategy.
Implementation and evaluation plan
In September 2022, ACECQA released the implementation and evaluation plan for the strategy.
This plan commits all governments and the sector to progressing the strategy’s actions as a priority. The plan outlines:
- implementation steps for each action
- how progress will be monitored and measured.
Implementation has started, led by government and sector organisations.
Read the implementation and evaluation plan on ACECQA's website
National workforce forums
ACECQA will host biennial national workforce forums. These will provide stakeholders and governments with an opportunity to review and share progress.
ACECQA hosted the first biennial National Workforce Forum in November 2023. The forum focused on 11 of the 21 actions of the strategy.
Learn more about national workforce forums on ACECQA’s website
More information
Find out more and stay up to date on the National Workforce Strategy on ACECQA’s website.