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Where to now for early childhood education and care? The following article by Dr Alison Elliott, ACER's Research Director in Early Childhood Education is a shortened version of an article published in the current edition of ACER's Research Developments newsletter. You can read the version at Research Developments. Australia's early childhood sector caters for well over half a million 0-5 year-olds in a myriad of services that are legislated and funded by a complex network of agencies and organisations, and operated and administered by a range of government, community and private for profit operators. About three quarters of children aged 3 to 4 years used some type of formal childcare in 2002, including home-based Family Day Care. Yet, little is known about how children fare. There are no agreed standards and learning programs across services, no agreed positions on staffing and staff qualifications, and no strategies for mapping, tracking or comparing children's experiences and outcomes. In short, there is little monitoring of children's progress and little investment in research and development. Most early childhood sector growth has been in provision of child care programs for young children while parents work. But in the scramble to provide affordable child care for working families, and without a national policy and vision for early childhood education, the once strong focus on early learning and education has slipped into the background. There is growing anecdotal evidence of a widening 'care' - 'education' divide in early childhood services that is being supported and sustained by differential funding and resourcing. Closing it will be difficult unless there is a rethinking of early childhood policy and a commitment to funding services and supporting families, rather than the market driven approach that currently prevails. Further, despite widespread recognition that early years experiences have a major impact on longer term educational and social outcomes, many children miss out altogether. There is no universal entitlement to, or provision for, early childhood education and care. A national, independent review of early childhood services is long overdue. On the surface, Australia seems to have a sound system of early childhood education and care, but a closer look shows that equity of access, experience and outcome for young children is a long way off. We might wonder why issues of government funding, equity of access, quality and outcomes, accountability, teacher quality and effectiveness, and the shift to 'private' education, so contentious in the schooling sector, raise barely a whisper when applied to children five and under? The increasing monopoly of not just 'private' and not-for-profit, but commercial and for-profit early childhood centres, has been all but ignored in the public debates about education funding. There is an urgent need for a review of early childhood care and education. We need to create a national vision and action plan. We need to decide whether we want a universal entitlement to quality early childhood education and care independent of families' ability to pay. The current 'care' - 'education' divide must be closed. We need to create more holistic, integrated early education and care services for children, and seriously consider accessibility, affordability and quality. Unless action is taken now, the twin system of care and education will be set in concrete. More affluent families will avoid child care altogether. Families eligible for the Child Care Benefit will cluster in services where fees, and hence quality, are kept low to maximize affordability. Services and quality will be further tied to family socio-economic status and ability to pay. Today, there is widespread recognition of the longer term educational and social outcomes of early childhood education, but we have little idea about the extent to which child care centres, preschools, and Family Day Care afford rich early developmental opportunities and promote sound learning outcomes. We don't have a mechanism to monitor, assess and compare children's progress, or to evaluate the outcomes of the many different types of early childhood programs. We're not even sure how early childhood programs should look, how curriculum should be structured, what values, learning experiences and outcomes could and should be expected and what staffing standards are most likely to ensure optimum outcomes for children. There is an urgent need for a review of early childhood service provision and outcomes, and future policy development needs to be informed by good evidence. To close the school achievement gap, we need to be much clearer about what works in early childhood, under what conditions and for which children. « Back to eNews
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The following article by Dr Alison Elliott, ACER's Research Director in Early Childhood Education is a shortened version of an article published in the current edition of ACER's Research Developments newsletter. You can read the version at Research Developments.

Australia's early childhood sector caters for well over half a million 0-5 year-olds in a myriad of services that are legislated and funded by a complex network of agencies and organisations, and operated and administered by a range of government, community and private for profit operators.

About three quarters of children aged 3 to 4 years used some type of formal childcare in 2002, including home-based Family Day Care. Yet, little is known about how children fare. There are no agreed standards and learning programs across services, no agreed positions on staffing and staff qualifications, and no strategies for mapping, tracking or comparing children's experiences and outcomes. In short, there is little monitoring of children's progress and little investment in research and development.

Most early childhood sector growth has been in provision of child care programs for young children while parents work. But in the scramble to provide affordable child care for working families, and without a national policy and vision for early childhood education, the once strong focus on early learning and education has slipped into the background.

There is growing anecdotal evidence of a widening 'care' - 'education' divide in early childhood services that is being supported and sustained by differential funding and resourcing. Closing it will be difficult unless there is a rethinking of early childhood policy and a commitment to funding services and supporting families, rather than the market driven approach that currently prevails. Further, despite widespread recognition that early years experiences have a major impact on longer term educational and social outcomes, many children miss out altogether. There is no universal entitlement to, or provision for, early childhood education and care. A national, independent review of early childhood services is long overdue.

On the surface, Australia seems to have a sound system of early childhood education and care, but a closer look shows that equity of access, experience and outcome for young children is a long way off.

We might wonder why issues of government funding, equity of access, quality and outcomes, accountability, teacher quality and effectiveness, and the shift to 'private' education, so contentious in the schooling sector, raise barely a whisper when applied to children five and under? The increasing monopoly of not just 'private' and not-for-profit, but commercial and for-profit early childhood centres, has been all but ignored in the public debates about education funding.

There is an urgent need for a review of early childhood care and education. We need to create a national vision and action plan. We need to decide whether we want a universal entitlement to quality early childhood education and care independent of families' ability to pay. The current 'care' - 'education' divide must be closed. We need to create more holistic, integrated early education and care services for children, and seriously consider accessibility, affordability and quality. Unless action is taken now, the twin system of care and education will be set in concrete. More affluent families will avoid child care altogether. Families eligible for the Child Care Benefit will cluster in services where fees, and hence quality, are kept low to maximize affordability. Services and quality will be further tied to family socio-economic status and ability to pay.

Today, there is widespread recognition of the longer term educational and social outcomes of early childhood education, but we have little idea about the extent to which child care centres, preschools, and Family Day Care afford rich early developmental opportunities and promote sound learning outcomes. We don't have a mechanism to monitor, assess and compare children's progress, or to evaluate the outcomes of the many different types of early childhood programs. We're not even sure how early childhood programs should look, how curriculum should be structured, what values, learning experiences and outcomes could and should be expected and what staffing standards are most likely to ensure optimum outcomes for children. There is an urgent need for a review of early childhood service provision and outcomes, and future policy development needs to be informed by good evidence. To close the school achievement gap, we need to be much clearer about what works in early childhood, under what conditions and for which children.

Where to now for early childhood education and care?