National Early Childhood Development Strategy
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has endorsed major early childhood reforms at its meeting on 2 July 2009.
COAG has released the first national Early Childhood Development Strategy—Investing in the Early Yearsto guide future reforms to support around two million children aged under eight and their families.
The National Quality Agenda comprises four key components:
- new national quality standards
- enhanced regulatory arrangements
- a quality rating system
- an Early Years Learning Framework
COAG has released a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) for the early childhood education and care quality reforms for public consultation.
The RIS outlines COAG’s proposals to implement a national system to replace current licensing and quality assurance processes, and a single set of national quality standards for education and care including options for improved staff to child ratios and higher staff qualification requirements.
A proposed new ratings system will provide better information about service quality to help parents to choose a service and promote quality improvements amongst services.
Australian Governments are seeking the views of parents, the industry, and the broader community on what is needed to improve the quality of education and care received by Australia’s children.
A formal consultation process on quality reforms to early childhood education and care will begin in July and will shape final decisions and transition plans for the reforms. See the schedule for Public Information Sessions.
The Early Years Learning Framework has been endorsed by COAG as a national framework to guide early childhood educators and families in the delivery of quality early childhood education.
For more information, visit the Dept of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations website.