 | The childcare system in Australia is flawed—a long-term strategy is needed. |
The childcare system is in need of fundamental structural change if it is to deliver high-quality services for children and their families.
There is a great deal of talk about affordability and accessibility but, at the same time, there is a palpable silence on the capacity of services to deliver high-quality care for children in the current environment
This is not to be critical of people working in child care. But the fact is there will be no real progress on the quality of service provision until those wanting to govern Australia are willing to say:
‘ … notwithstanding the very best and committed efforts of those working in services, it is not possible to deliver high-quality care for children in a context where the evidence-based structural conditions (and, as result, the process conditions) for quality do not exist.'
—Pam Cahir, CEO Early Childhood Australia, Address to the National Council, Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (16 May, 2007).
The current gap between aspirations and reality is a hard one to admit.
Quality matters if we are serious about high-quality outcomes, right now, for young children who participate in these services. Quality also matters if the human capital, and other economic benefits, of participation in high-quality programs and services, are to be realised.
Across Australia, childcare services are operating to regulations and standards that do not reflect the evidence about what is needed to ensure high-quality experience and outcomes for children.
Neuroscientists have demonstrated the foundations for future growth and learning are laid down in the early years and economists have made the case for investment in the early years. Their analysis shows that for every dollar spent on children in their earliest years there is a $7 return into the future.
The following sources clearly indicate the value of investment in early childhood:
What we know matters in early childhood
- Early Childhood educational leadership matters – people in charge of children's services (child care and the first years of school) should have four-year specialist early childhood education degrees. Leadership must to be knowledgeable and intentional.
- Qualifications matter – people in charge of groups of children in child care and in the early years of schools should have specialist early childhood qualifications. Research demonstrates the need for qualified early childhood teachers and early childhood staff who are responsive and reflective, understand subject knowledge and whose practice is built on current understandings of how child grow and learn.
- Staff-child ratios and total group size matters – relationships are at the core of early childhood development and learning. Staff-child ratios and total group size must enable the development of the consistent, sensitive, intentional relationships and interactions that are the core of early childhood. These underwrite the emotional foundations for growth and learning and allow for the rich conversations between adults and children that promote thinking through talking.
- Staff stability and, as a result, wages, conditions and the existence of a career structure matter – the ability to attract and hold qualified and quality staff is dependent on wages and conditions which reflect the complexity and significance of the role. There must be pay parity between early childhood teachers working in child care and those working in the early years of school. Incentives are also required to ensure school principals employ early childhood teachers in the early years of school.
- Support for quality practice matters – the provision of time is imperative for staff in services/schools to engage with each other and the service/school leader in intentional and planned conversations about what they are doing with children.
- The early years of school matter – as with children's services, early childhood education leadership, specialist early childhood teachers and small class sizes are the lynchpins of a successful school experience. A successful experience in the first years of school underwrites an ongoing successful school experience.
There is no short-term fix for our childcare/children's services system
A quality children's services system will cost money and this cannot be achieved in the life of one parliament.
The only way to achieve the structural changes necessary for a quality system is via is a long-term strategy which acknowledges the limitations of the current system, sets out real goals for a quality system and a long-term plan to make progress toward them. This will cost money and we need, as a nation, to acknowledge this and plan for that investment.
Children are human beings. They have value and significance in the here and now, not simply for what they might become. In committing itself to the wellbeing of children, society is committing itself to the wellbeing of all, now and into the future. Children deserve nothing less – what is needed to achieve this is courage, vision and leadership.
Early Childhood Australia has committed to five main issues for its election agenda:
We encourage all those who are involved in the care and education of young children to make your voice heard in the lead-up to this year's federal election.
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