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The OECD report on early childhood around the world
The OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) recently released a report into the early childhood policies, and government spending on the early years, from 20 countries.
The OECD report, Starting Strong II, highlighted the very low levels of investment in quality early childhood services in Australia. Australia spends less than any other first-world country on preschool, and our kindergarten teachers are the worst paid and least trained.
Early childhood in Australia
The evidence is in, confirming what matters in early childhood services if they are to support children's learning and development. The current regulations and standards are insufficient to support quality outcomes for children.
What is needed is greater investment and real cooperation between state/territory and national governments to provide these funds in a way which really leverages increased service quality.
A discussion with Fiona Stanley
The terrible ranking of Australia's investment in early childhood services was discussed on the ABC Radio program, The World Today. An extract appears below:
SABRA LANE: The OECD report is based on six years of research and compares the preschool standards in 20 OECD nations.
Australia comes in at the bottom of the class, spending the least of the 20 nations on preschool education.
It says Australia spends just 0.1 per cent of its gross domestic product on formal education.
The report says the low pay, low status and training levels of early childhood staff may in fact act as a counterbalance to the millions governments spend on the sector.
None of this is a surprise to former Australian of the Year, Professor Fiona Stanley. She's the director of the Australian Research Alliance for Childhood and Youth.
FIONA STANLEY: I'm not surprised, because I think with all of the OECD reports that have come out over the years, we've always been very low down on this benchmarking exercise.
I mean, the good news is that we've actually now got onto the Council of Australian Governments, that's both Federal and State Governments, a human development agenda. And the real focus, in fact the first cab off the rank is going to be early childhood.
So I think governments are getting it in Australia. I think it… I would be very interested to see the report and also look at the trends over time to see if we're actually rising in terms of our commitment, which I anticipate that we would be.
But it's incredibly important that we get this message across, the main reason being that the early years of brain development, if they are positive and nurtured and appropriate, means that your brain is okay for the rest of your life.
So it really is a message that has to get through to everybody in the society, but particularly those who are providing childcare, early childhood services, early child education, all of these things.
And the point that I want to make about the OECD report, which I think is really good from what I've seen so far, is it's not just about quantity, it's about quality. So it's about the kinds of people who are providing this care.
SABRA LANE: The OECD report also found that just over half of the workers in childcare centres and private kindergartens actually held formal qualifications.
FIONA STANLEY: That's amazing. I think that's unacceptable. I think we do need to have people who are fully trained, particularly trained in child development and the early educational environments that are really positive for child development.
It seems to me that that's an incredibly important… plus things like, obvious things like child safety and minimal child health and all of those things that are important for the safety of children in those organisations.
And when you think about it, it's actually really more important for people who are at the lower end of the social spectrum, they're the people whose home environments might not be the best for children, and here with childcare and early childhood education, you've got a real opportunity to turn things around for some of these kids.
SABRA LANE: She says governments have to make preschool affordable and available everywhere.
FIONA STANLEY: All of the problems that are currently worrying us about teenagers and disaffected young adults and the rising rates of mental health problems and of things that are to do with violence and rioting, the more that we can get a competent group of young people coming through. So this is all about prevention of these major problems later down the track as well. So that's an important message to get through to government as well.
— retrieved 22/09/2006 from The World Today.
Early Childhood Australia's view
Early Childhood Australia's CEO, Pam Cahir, recently spoke about the key features of a high-quality early childhood service system - one 'which meets the needs of children and families now and into the future'.
Below is an extract from Pam Cahir's presentation:
What interrelated mix of conditions, structures etc. which are essential underpinnings if early childhood services – of whatever kind – will deliver quality outcomes for the children and families who use them and are responsive to their needs?
- Early childhood leadership matters. By that, I mean specialist early childhood teachers with degrees. Early childhood pedagogical leadership is an essential component of a quality children's service – why should we be surprised? Pedagogical leaderships is what sets a service apart in terms of outcomes for children. The evidence is in on this: you cannot deliver what you do not understand; and you cannot see what you do not know about. Generalists and managers have their place in any service but the leadership has to be clear about what matters for children
- Qualifications matter. Staff with responsibility for children should have early childhood qualifications. In fact the more staff in a service who have early childhood qualifications the better. Research shows that there are better social and cognitive outcomes when children's care and education is in the hands of early childhood specialists – this too can no longer be contested.
- Child–staff ratios and group size matter. The evidence is clear here too. Lower child–staff ratios and smaller group sizes enable the sensitive, thoughtful and responsive interactions which are essential to the provision high-quality care and good outcomes for children.
- Staff stability and continuity matter. They underwrite the development of the relationships and enable the quality interactions which are so significant in children's learning and development. The evidence is unequivocal about this as well.
- Staff access to professional support and development matters. Importantly, this includes those professional conversations that allow us to re-think and improve our practice with children. For all other professions this is uncontested; so why not in early childhood?
- Wages, conditions and career prospects matter. It is increasingly clear that wages and conditions (and the existence of a career structure) are key factors in peoples' decision to continue to work in our services. We need to be robust and determined in our resolve to get pay parity with teachers in schools for teachers working in child care. We need to be undeterred in our commitment to doing what it takes to evolve a career structure for the early childhood professionals who work in this and other sectors. Only if we do these things will qualified and committed people stay in large numbers in this sector.
The full presentation is available online:
A systems approach to the delivery of children's services in this country - does it have anything to offer?
Further reading
The OECD Starting Strong II report
More OECD countries focusing on early childhood as key to education success
An overview of the OECD Starting Strong II report
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