BACKGROUND
PELA, the Pilbara Early Learning Alliance was established to respond to issues and needs of the child care sector, industry, business and community and aims to address the strategic level issues around child care availability and provision in the Pilbara.
PELA members are drawn from major industry bodies (BHP, RIO Tinto, Woodside, et al), government (Federal, State and local) and non-government stakeholders and service providers (child care, early childhood development) from across the region.
PELA is a solution focused group that is working at a strategic level to address the issues which contribute to the chronic undersupply of quality, flexible, licensed and affordable child care services and to improve the delivery of early childhood development services across the region, in particular to Indigenous communities. Significant issues include licensing and regulatory requirements, infrastructure and cost of provision (land, builders and buildings, housing, salary levels, cost of living, competitive employment alternatives, freight, consumables etc), attraction and retention of qualified and un-qualified staff and suitability of services.
PELA has established relationships with other agencies and groups of similar interest and intent (e.g. The Wheatbelt Organisation of Children’s Services). PELA has also been a standing item on the State’s Ministerial Child Care Advisory Committee Agenda and has submitted input into the Department for Communities’ Child Care Regulation Review and COAG’s Early Years Framework development process. In November 2008 senior Commission staff participated in the Early Year’s Framework workshops that were held at the Perth Convention Centre to provide feedback and input into the first draft of the framework.
PELA became incorporated in February 2009. This will enable the Alliance to pick up the Pilbara role of the Kimberley and Pilbara Children’s Services (KAPCS), an incorporated community group that was established in 1993 to represent the interests of children’s services in the remote Northwest of Western Australia. KAPCS was dissolved earlier this year due to difficulties in providing support to services in both regions.
Incorporation allows PELA to further enhance its profile and enables the organisation to seek funding to establish a position to investigate and progress a number of strategies to address specific issues impacting early childhood services. If successful, this will commence with the updating of an earlier audit undertaken by the Commission on the type and availability of early childhood education, child care and children’s services across the region.
LATEST UPDATE
PELA meets on the first Thursday of every month and continually works towards improving the Early childhood, education and care services in the region.
The organisaton is currently working on a new logo and corporate identity as well as new a format for its online newsletter.
CONTACT
Carolyn Biar
Principle Project Officer
Phone: (08) 9185 0602
carolyn.biar@pdc.wa.gov.au
RELATED ARTICLES
PELA E-Zine November 2008
PELA E-Zine August 2008
PELA E-Zine July 2008
PELA E-Zine May 2008
PELA E-Zine April 2008