Starting school is a major milestone in a child’s life. Making that transition successfully has lasting implications for children’s academic and occupational success. Sadly, in Australia many children do not make a successful transition to school. More than 1 out of every 5 start school behind their peers, with developmental vulnerability in social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, or communication skills and general knowledge.
Children who live in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas experience even higher rates of vulnerability in these developmental areas. To reduce inequitable outcomes for disadvantaged children, we must identify ways to promote school readiness and healthy development for all children.
International research suggests that high quality early childhood education (ECEC) in the year before school can help to address inequities and support all children to succeed at school. ECEC settings that provide preschool programs emphasising cognitive, social, and emotional development appear to be particularly beneficial for healthy child development. The greatest benefit appears to be accrued by those children who live in disadvantaged settings and are at risk of poor outcomes. Preschool programs provide a platform to promote school readiness for all children, and reduce the disparities facing disadvantaged and vulnerable children.
We’ve used data from the Australian Early Development Census to explore children’s developmental outcomes in light of the types of care that children experienced in the year before school. Our research showed that children who attended preschool were less likely to be developmentally vulnerable across four of the developmental domains assessed by the AEDC (physical health and wellbeing, social competence, language and cognitive development, communication and general knowledge) when they started school. Preschool programs encourage academic and social development, and prepare children for the school environment. Importantly though, while preschool appeared to benefit all children, it didn’t disproportionately benefit disadvantaged children. Therefore, it did not reduce the equity gap.
The recognised benefits of preschool programs have contributed to recent national reform policies that aim to increase preschool attendance rates. However, while universal preschool access reform aimed to ensure that preschool places were available, this has not automatically equated to universal uptake. Research has identified additional factors that influence preschool uptake, including whether parents are employed, where the family lives, and whether the family has a language background other than English.
Data from the 2009 and 2012 AEDC has shed more light on the issue of preschool attendance. The results suggest that it remains an ongoing challenge in Australia to ensure that universal preschool programs are delivered in a way that reaches all children, particularly those children who are vulnerable and at risk for poor outcomes. Increasing preschool attendance through universal access will not be achieved unless the barriers to preschool uptake are identified and addressed.
Read the paper
Read the full research paper at Science Direct and for more on the important role of quality ECEC for children’s development, see the Mitchell Institute report.