Building on the changes wrought by the introduction of a Prep year in 2007, among the themes the Bligh government is opening up for public discussion – online, at community forums, or in writing – is Getting Ready For School, in which plans include:

“… building up to 240 new kindergartens and providing funding for long day care centres to employ qualified early childhood teachers, so that every child in Queensland can participate in an extra year of learning with a qualified early education teacher before they even start Prep.”

This is to help address the current low ratio of Queensland children who attend a kindergarten program: 29%, compared to 80%-95% elsewhere.

Read more at http://deta.qld.gov.au/aflyingstart/

To see how other state & territory governments address early childhood education and the transition to school, go to:

http://www.det.act.gov.au/teaching_and_learning/early_childhood_schools
http://www.det.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/18613/Starting_School_2009.pdf
http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/gotoschool/preschool/adjusting.php
http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/gotoschool/primary/primaryindex.php
http://www.det.nt.gov.au/parents-community/schooling/stages-of-schooling
http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/childrensservices/
http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/portal/community.asp?group=matters
http://www.education.tas.gov.au/early-learning
http://www.education.tas.gov.au/school/parents/starting
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/parents/earlychildhood/default.htm
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/earlychildhood/transition/default.htm
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/ece/
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/schoolsandyou