Childcare: A Better Policy Framework for Australia

Ten Policy Principles for a National System of Early Childhood Education and Care

Convened by Barbara Pocock (Director, Centre for Work and Life, Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies, University of South Australia) and Elizabeth Hill (Associate Lecturer, School of Economics and Political Science, University of Sydney) at the University of Sydney on 13-14 July 2006.

<download (pdf - 46kb)> the policy paper.

Workshop summary
Early childhood education and care has been discussed and debated for decades in Australia. In recent years it has undergone significant changes that reflect wider social and political trends and which many believe are shifting the focus of early childhood services away from the needs of children and families. Some forms of services, like long day care, are seeing new interest groups like shareholders entering the picture, with relatively untested outcomes for children.

A common theme throughout this workshop was the competing goals of early childhood education and care services. These goals range from those that put the child's developmental needs at their centre, to those that focus on parent's need to participate in the labour market (neither of which is mutually exclusive) to those that prioritise corporate needs for profit. There is some evidence that pursuit of the later goal undermines the needs and rights of children and, in cases where quality is compromised, may be impacting on the health of children in long day care.

Affordability, availability and choice are key concerns for parents and this workshop has heard various economic arguments for a change in funding policy and tax models concerned with ECEC. Such changes should coincide with paid leave entitlements for parents and proper recognition (in training, pay and stability) for child care workers. The overwhelming consensus among workshop participants was for a universal public system of ECEC that was integrated with the school system and consistently accredited and regulated across states and territories. Such a system should be affordable and accessible to all Australian children and their families. The responsibility for ECEC is multi layered, however it would be led by government, through appropriate policy and funding, in consultation with parents and communities.