Growing Together is a report from the Centre for Policy Development’s early childhood development initiative, building on their landmark Starting Better report and Guarantee for children and families. It outlines essential steps for achieving a truly universal early education and care system.
While the government has committed to “making high-quality, equitable, and affordable early childhood education universal”, recent reports from the ACCC and Productivity Commission reveal that the current approach falls short.
CPD’s report calls for reforms to enhance accessibility, affordability, and quality in early learning. Its 10 key reforms aim to align Australia’s early learning system with other universal systems like schooling and Medicare.
Growing Together is a report from the Centre for Policy Development that outlines a long-term vision and roadmap for a reformed early childhood education and care system in Australia.
Its 10 key reforms aim to build a better system that all children and families can rely on.
Early learning in Australia is becoming increasingly difficult for families to afford, and even those who can afford expensive services are struggling to find places due to workforce shortages and a lack of early learning centres.
Research has shown that roughly 22% of children start school developmentally vulnerable, and that complex subsidy arrangements and activity tests are causing around 126,000 to miss out on crucial early learning and care.
Without significant reform, children will continue to miss out on early learning and families will continue to struggle balancing work and care responsibilities, with far reaching consequences.
The report proposes 10 transformative reforms to create a truly inclusive early education and care system for all children and families. They include boosting workforce support and investment, defining clear government roles, investing to establish new services in unserved and underserved communities, and enhancing data sharing.
The report’s key reforms are:
These changes aim to make early education accessible, affordable, and equitable for everyone.
