Belonging, being and becoming: The early years learning framework for Australia: Opportunities and challenges for early years religious education

This paper examines Australia’s first statement on the education of young children between birth and five years of age, Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (Australian Government Department of Employment Education and Workplace Relations, 2009) and considers its particular implications for religious education in religiously-affiliated early childhood centres and settings. The recent publication of this landmark document has elevated and emphasised the position and place of early childhood education in contemporary Australia. This document seeks to guide and shape curriculum across the entire early childhood sector including religiously-affiliated centres and settings. In addition to its significance in being the first national statement regarding early childhood education, this document is also significant in terms of its several explicit references to children’s spirituality and educators’ called responses to that. What is the nature of such references and what do they imply for early childhood religious education within religiously-affiliated early childhood centres and settings in the Christian tradition, including those attached to schools and/or parishes?