YWCA Communities for Children program is hosting an information and question time session for Aboriginal Community-Controlled organisations/businesses and community based or not-for-profit organisations in the Tweed/Richmond area interested in applying for Aboriginal Families as Teachers Round 2 funding which opens 2 May 2022.

About the program

The Aboriginal Families as Teachers (AFaT) program aims to support Aboriginal families to build a rich home learning environment. The Minister for Early Childhood Education has approved an expanded AFaT as an initial implementation initiative of the First Steps Aboriginal Children’s Education Strategy. Support for Aboriginal families to participate in early childhood education, particularly with support from Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, also reflects targets of the Closing the Gap agreement, endorsed by the NSW Premier.

Through working directly with families and collaborating with early childhood education services, the Aboriginal Families as Teachers program has been developed to encourage early learning and participation in a quality early childhood education program in the years before school.

The program has six core objectives:

support Aboriginal families to provide developmentally rich home learning environments for young children birth to five years
promote literacy and numeracy rich home learning environments
build families’ confidence in their ability to support the healthy development and learning of their children
support Aboriginal children and their families for successful transitions to school
promote the importance of early childhood education within families and communities, including participation in a quality early childhood education program for 600 hours in the year before school (at a minimum)
support Aboriginal children’s developmental outcomes across all five domains (physical, social, emotional, cognitive and language)

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for Aboriginal Families as Teachers program Round 2, organisations must plan to deliver the program in eligible communities and meet one of the following criteria:

be a community based or not-for-profit organisation
be an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation or business
meet the qualifications requirements listed below for the development and delivery of early childhood education activities under this program.

Applicants will need to confirm that the proposed program activities will be developed by a certificate III or diploma qualified early childhood educator, early childhood education teacher, or other person with a relevant tertiary qualification, in order to proceed with the application.

Subject to satisfying the initial eligibility criteria, organisations will then be assessed against the following assessment criteria:

previous experience working with Aboriginal families and communities
previous experience working with families with children aged 0-5
established links with early childhood education providers in the community in which the program is proposed

For more details

For more details about the program please visit the Department's website click here or contact:

Tanika Harris (Senior Aboriginal Policy and Strategy Implementation Officer)

M: 0413 145 165, E: aboriginalprogramsECED@det.nsw.edu.au

Aboriginal Policy and Strategy Implementation Unit

Early Childhood Education

NSW Department of Education