Australia's two largest states, Victoria and New South Wales have announced a massive overhaul in the Early Childhood sector.
Young children will have an extra year of education under a new plan from both the New South Wales and Victorian governments.
"It will mean that, in the next 10 years, every child in Victoria and NSW will experience the benefits of a full year of play-based learning before their first year of school," the state premiers (leaders) said in a joint statement.
Key points are:
The year will be play-based learning
Children would attend the new classes 30 hours a week
Exact models are yet to be developed but in part designed to allow women to participate more in the workforce
Childcare 'deserts' (where facilities don't exist) will be also alleviated
Both states would deliver the program in preschool settings
This underlines the importance in ECE and the investments that governments are willing to make. In other research it has been shown that children who receive quality pre-school play-based education have "better outcomes"* in adulthood.
Here is the article from the Guardian newspaper.
* Here is a link to a blog we wrote in May last year where there was a World Bank study including suggestions for middle and low income countres
