Quality Early Education for All

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About the authors Megan O’Connell Megan O’Connell is a public policy expert with experience across the early childhood, school and tertiary education sectors. A key focus of her work leading Mitchell's research program is developing policy to improve transitions across the education continuum. Stacey Fox Dr Stacey Fox has worked in research and policy across child, youth and family sectors for a number of years. Stacey has coauthored significant reports on parent engagement in learning and systems design to support prevention and early intervention, and has worked in strategic and international social policy, program design and family policy. Bronwyn Hinz Bronwyn Hinz recently completed a PhD on education policy reform and federalism, jointly supervised by the School of Social and Political Sciences and the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. For the past 18 months she has been Vice President of a community-run public preschool with responsibilities for policy, regulation, staffing and OHS issues. Hannah Cole Hannah Cole has public policy experience in the areas of early childhood, schooling and child health and wellbeing. She has considerable experience working on government-wide policy projects and initiatives designed to improve educational outcomes for vulnerable learners. Acknowledgements A number of individuals provided confidential, invaluable and important feedback on drafts of this paper. In particular we wish to thank: Myra Geddes, Goodstart Early Learning Chris Steel, Early Childhood Australia Dahle Suggett, PTR Consulting About the Mitchell Institute The Mitchell Institute at Victoria University is an independent think tank that works to improve the connection between evidence and policy reform. The Mitchell Institute promotes the principle that high-quality education, from the early years through to early adulthood, is fundamental to individual wellbeing and to a prosperous and successful society. We believe in an education system that is oriented towards the future, creates pathways for individual success, and meets the needs of a globalised economy. The Mitchell Institute was established in 2013 by Victoria University, Melbourne with foundational investment from the Harold Mitchell Foundation. Please cite this report as: O’Connell M, Fox S, Hinz B and Cole H (2016). ‘Quality Early Education for All: Fostering, entrepreneurial, resilient and capable leaders’, Mitchell Institute policy paper No. 01/2016. Mitchell Institute, Melbourne. Available from: www.mitchellinstitute.org.au ii
• Table of contents Executive Summary: Quality Early Education for All ............................................................................ v Missed Opportunities: The benefit of early education for all ............................................................... 1 Challenges and opportunities ................................................................................................................... 2 Recognising achievement and looking forward ........................................................................................ 4 The Impact of Quality Early Education................................................................................................. 6 Why quality matters ................................................................................................................................. 7 The foundations for future life and learning ............................................................................................ 9 Return on investment ............................................................................................................................... 9 Early Childhood Education in Australia: Looking back to look forward ............................................... 12 Looking back ............................................................................................................................................ 12 Size of the investment ............................................................................................................................ 13 The National Quality Framework ............................................................................................................ 16 A skilled and supported workforce ......................................................................................................... 20 The current policy environment ............................................................................................................. 21 In conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 22 How Australia’s children are tracking ................................................................................................ 23 Participation in ECEC services (0-5 year olds) ......................................................................................... 23 Participation in preschool (4-5 year olds) ............................................................................................... 23 Australian Early Development Census .................................................................................................... 26 Downstream impacts .............................................................................................................................. 31 Supporting increased participation ........................................................................................................ 32 Quality Early Education for All iii
Page 1: MITCHELL REPORT NO. 01/2016 Quality
Page 5 and 6: • Executive Summary: Quality Earl
Page 7 and 8: There is a clear need for a focused
Page 9 and 10: • Missed Opportunities: The benef
Page 11 and 12: It is time that quality early educa
Page 13 and 14: Policy objectives for the next five
Page 15 and 16: children from diasadvantaged backgr
Page 17 and 18: after adjusting for circumstances.
Page 19 and 20: In conclusion Early education has s
Page 21 and 22: • About 43 per cent of Australian
Page 23 and 24: Table 3: Type of care usually atten
Page 25 and 26: administering the National Quality
Page 27 and 28: Figure 3: Classroom Assessment Scor
Page 29 and 30: • Incentivising partnerships and
Page 31 and 32: • How Australia’s children are
Page 33 and 34: Figure 5: Percentage of children in
Page 35 and 36: was the same as in 2012 and an impr
Page 37 and 38: % Developmentally vulnerable Figure
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Page 43 and 44: proportion of disadvantaged familie
Page 45 and 46: The impact of early education will
Page 47 and 48: • Priorities for the next five ye
Page 49 and 50: Perceptions of the benefit of early
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Strategies for investment and impac
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Recommendation 1: Universal Access
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and attendance data; unit-level dat
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services’ obligation to waive fee
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• References Access Economics (20
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Biddle N and Seth-Purdie, R (2013),
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Darling-Hammond, L and Snyder, J (1
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Harrison LJ, Goldfeld S, Metcalfe E
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www.rch.org.au/uploadedFiles/Main/C
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nsw-to-be-accredited-like-their-pri
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Tayler C, Cloney D and Niklas F (20
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