Quality Early Education for All

• the formal education and training of caregivers (Vandell & Wolfe, 2000; Ishimine et al, 2009).
Structural elements are more easily measured and have tended to form the basis of quality measures. However,
on their own, they do not work well as a proxy for quality: they enable the enriched educator-child interactions
and attention to learning and development that drive improvement in children’s outcomes but are not outcomes
in themselves. For this reason, the NQF is intended to influence both structural and process elements of quality.
For instance:
Teachers with greater knowledge of early childhood development have been shown to be more
attuned to children’s communication and emotional cues, lower carer-child ratios permit more
responsive interactions and one-on-one interaction, centres with better qualified staff are more likely
to score well on quality rating scales, high quality centres are more likely to result in improved
outcomes for children (ARACY, 2015, p. 8).
Also crucial to quality is the developmental appropriateness of the learning environment (Sylva, 2010),
particularly the use of play-based and inquiry-focused learning activities, with pedagogical practices that support:
• play-based activities and routines which allow children to take the lead in their own learning;
• support for language and communication (through use of narrative, shared reading, informal conversations,
song and rhymes); and
• opportunities to move and be physically active (Mathers et al., 2014 in ARACY 2015).
An overly structured, academic focus in preschool can prevent children from developing the social and emotional
skills they need. Studies show that children can experience stress in environments with a predominant focus on
academic training (Gray, 2015; Lipsey et al, 2015; Carlsson-Paige et al, 2015; Darling-Hammon and Snyder, 1992;
Marcon, 2002). Although more academic approaches result in early achievement gains, especially in literacy, they
can be followed by detrimental outcomes longer term, particularly in
terms of social and emotional wellbeing (Farran and Lipsey, 2015).
Quality early education is play-based, requires positive educator-child
relationships and places children’s social and emotional development at
the forefront.
There are significant differences in outcomes depending on the level of
quality care provided. High-quality child care benefits cognitive
development, improves concentration, and fosters better intellectual
development, enhanced vocabularies and greater sociability. In contrast,
poor quality care is associated with deficits in language and cognitive
function for very young children, and has been associated with poorer
social and emotional development (Productivity Commission, 2014;
Sammons et al, 2012a, 2012b; Sylva, 2010; Belsky et al, 2007).
• Children who attend preschool with a preschool teacher who has an
early childhood education degree or diploma perform better in Year 3
NAPLAN testing for reading, numeracy and spelling than children who
did not attend preschool, even when controlling for personal
circumstances (Warren & Haisken De-New, 2013).
“Children benefit from
higher-quality care
overall in both their
language and social
skills, but larger
benefits tend to
accrue when quality is
in the good to high
range.”
BURCHINAL ET AL 2009
• Children who attended preschool with a certificate qualified teacher, or a degree-qualified teacher in a field
other than early childhood, did not fare better than children who did not attend preschool (Warren and
Haisken De-New, 2013).
• Data from the Effective Preschool, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE 3-16) Project study shows that
there is a difference in outcomes at age 16 between very poor and very high-quality preschools, including
Quality Early Education for All 8