The radical overhaul of Australia’s preschool sector will require better legislating for the sector and increasing the number of early childhood education teachers, according to a policy paper released today by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

The policy brief, Preschool Education in Australia, summarises the current structure of preschool in Australian in contemplation of major policy shifts announced by the Commonwealth. It follows a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) commitment last year to a “radical makeover” of the preschool sector.

COAG promised that by 2013 all preschool children would have access to high quality education programs delivered by degree-qualified early childhood teachers.

“COAG’s welcome commitment to universal access illustrates a government awareness of the long shadow cast by early learning experiences,” said ACER’s chief executive Professor Geoff Masters.

“But implementing this commitment will require significant cooperation between the Commonwealth and the States to ensure that preschools do reflect our society’s professed care for its youngest participants.”

The policy brief highlights a need for more nationally consistent and comparable preschool data. Information about the preschool sector is currently 15 to 20 years behind what is available about schools.

Read more at http://www.acer.edu.au/1/index.php/media-releases/detail/more-still-needed-in-overhaul-of-early-childhood-education

Read the paper at http://www.acer.edu.au/documents/PolicyBriefs_Dowling09.pdf