2016 election platform - cloudfront.net

EARLY LEARNING: A QUALITY FUTURE FOR AUSTRALIA

EARLY LEARNING: EVERYONE BENEFITS CAMPAIGN

2016 ELECTION PLATFORM Our future depends on how we invest in our children today Early learning is a matter for all Australians; it affects our country’s future prosperity, both social and economic. Creating smarter early learning policies will provide a stable and prosperous future for everyone. If we invest now in the health and development of our children, the whole country will benefit. Improved outcomes for children accessing quality early learning flow on to economic and social benefits for all of us—estimated to contribute up to $10 billion to our economy by 2050i.

When a large number of our children fall behind, we are all worse off. It is of great concern that one in five Australian children—and two in five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children—in their first year of school are vulnerable in key areas of developmentii. The key to turning this around is early learning. All political parties need to show that they are committed to taking action to improve access to quality early learning, which the research shows amplifies children’s development, helping to build Australia’s future prosperity.

State of early learning in Australia report 2016

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Quality early learning matters to Australians. According to a recent Galaxy Research polliii, 43 per cent of voters aged 18–34 with children, said they would most likely vote for a candidate who supports affordable child care and early learning. There are enough people that care about early learning to change the outcome of the election. Australia needs to: 1. Invest in improving the participation of children in the quality early learning that boosts their development. 2. Extend access to early childhood education for more children to improve Australia’s educational performance. 3. Improve the quality of early childhood services and build the early childhood workforce.

85%

OF AUSTRALIANS AGREE THAT ENSURING ALL CHILDREN CAN PARTICIPATE IN QUALITY EARLY LEARNING IS IMPORTANT FOR AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE PROSPERITY (GALAXY RESEARCH, 2016).

1. We call for a commitment to invest in the early years to boost children’s development and ensure all children have access to two days of quality early learning.

The first five years of every child’s life can unleash a lifetime of potential What happens during the first five years of a person’s life has a significant, lifelong impact. Investing in the early years of life pays off by preventing problems later on and increasing the potential of people to contribute as productive adults. The most sensitive period of brain development occurs during early childhood. The development of early language skills during the first years of life provides the foundation for later cognitive development. Early learning amplifies children’s development. The majority of children’s early learning experiences occur at home with parents. Providing adequate paid parental leave to give parents time at home with a new baby, and investing in programs such as home visiting, playgroup and early literacy support can enhance the home environment. Participation in early childhood education also provides important opportunities for children who might otherwise be at risk of disadvantage. Services such as long day care, family day care, mobile preschools and children’s centres can provide rich early learning environments where children engage in play-based activities as part of intentional programs developed and implemented by skilled educators. This helps young children to develop important life skills such as emotional regulation, empathy and cooperation. It also fosters important skills for learning such as curiosity, creativity and problem solving. There are gaps in the programs available with particularly low rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, of all ages, participating in early learning. Affordability, the availability of places, culturally appropriate programs, eligibility requirements for subsidies and service funding issues are all contributing factors. As a nation, we need to provide all children with access to the quality early learning that makes a difference to their outcomes. This means ensuring children have subsidised access to a quality early learning program for at least two days per week. Disadvantaged children benefit from even greater access, helping them to catch-up to their peers and make a successful transition into school.


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Source: Education and Health Standing Committee, Parliament of Western Australiaiv

84%

OF AUSTRALIANS AGREE THAT PARTICIPATION IN QUALITY EARLY LEARNING IN THE YEARS BEFORE SCHOOL BOOSTS CHILDREN’S DEVELOPMENT (GALAXY RESEARCH, 2016).

2. We call for a commitment to extend access to early childhood education to improve Australia’s educational performance. Access to early learning in the years before school boosts children’s development Australia currently provides universal access to all children to a high-quality early childhood education program in the year before full-time schooling. However, funding for this ends in 2017. It is vital that durable and consistent Commonwealth preschool funding arrangements are put in place for the future.

In the years before full-time schooling, the duration that children attend early learning (in years) is related to better intellectual outcomesv. If it is a quality early learning program, all children benefit from attending from the age of threevi. While Australia ranks well on the participation of four year olds in early childhood education, we ranked in the bottom third of comparable countries for the enrolment of children at age three in 2013, with only 62 per cent of children participatingvii. Australia’s comparable performance in international education testing, like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), is decliningviii. PISA scores are linked to the duration of attendance in early childhood education. If Australia is to improve its education performance then extending universal provision to ages younger than the year before school must be a priority.

3. We call for a clear commitment to quality through the full implementation of the National Quality Framework and a new national strategy to build the early childhood workforce.


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Quality early learning for our children makes a quality future for Australia Early education represents a vital context of development and should be set up to optimise the potential for creating positive outcomes for all Australian children. That’s why we have the National Quality Framework (NQF), to ensure each service delivers a higher standard of care for children in the critical areas of education, health and safety, and provides clearer, comprehensive information for families so they can choose the best services for their child. It includes a compulsory National Quality Standard (NQS), comprising improved child-to-educator ratios, qualification requirements for all early childhood educators and a national quality rating system.

Early childhood professionals make a unique contribution to creating high-quality programs and environments that boost vital developmental stages. With professional development and training programs winding up in 2016 and 2017, new commitments to professional learning and training are required to meet the remaining NQF milestones including the requirement of two degree-qualified teachers in all centre based services by 2020. The current Early Years Workforce Strategy expires this year, providing an opportunity to address these issues with new initiatives.

We need to make sure that assessment and ratings systems continue to be properly funded so that services continuously improve their quality to boost children’s development. State of early learning in Australia report 2016

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EARLY LEARNING: EVERYONE BENEFITS Early Learning: Everyone Benefits is a campaign leading Australians to value the benefits of quality early learning for all children, and for Australia’s future prosperity. The campaign is supported by a national coalition of early childhood and parent peak bodies, providers, organisations and individuals. For more information: www.everyonebenefits.org.au [email protected] @earlyedbenefits www.facebook.com/earlylearning.everyonebenefits 02 6242 1800 PO BOX 86 Deakin West ACT 2601

PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC). (2014). Putting a value on early childhood education and care in Australia. Retrieved 15 March, 2016, from www.pwc.com.au.

i

Australian Government. (2016). Australian Early Development Census National Report 2015. Retrieved 15 March, 2016, from www.aedc.gov.au/ resources/detail/2015-aedc-national-report.

ii

Galaxy Research. (2016). Early learning study, May 26–29. Retrieved 2 June, 2016, from https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/everyonebenefits/ pages/55/attachments/original/1464820238/ELEB-EarlyLearningStudyReport-Galaxy-2016.pdf?1464820238.

iii

iv Education and Health Committee. (2012). Child health—Child development: The first 3 years. Perth, WA: Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 2 June, 2016, from www.parliament.wa.gov.au parliament%5Ccommit.nsf/ (Report+Lookup+by+Com+ID)/5D835C076D06D025482579B400070FB5/ %24file/EHSC+Report+No+deleted+pages.pdf. v Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I., & Taggart, B. (2004). The Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) project: Findings from pre-school to end of Key Stage 1. London, UK: Birkbeck, University of London.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). (2015). Literature review of the impact of early childhood education and care on learning and development: Working paper. Cat. no. CWS 53. Retrieved 15 March, 2016, from www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129552948.

vi

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2015). Education at a glance 2015. Paris, France: OECD Publishing.

vii

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2013). PISA 2012 results in focus: What 15-year-olds know and what they can do with what they know. Paris, France: OECD Publishing. viii


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