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The early childhood education revolution · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm christinaming it.
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  Speaker 1: It's Friday, December twenty. Members of Victoria's Liberal Party will
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  Speaker 1: decide today if ousted MP Moi Redeeming should be readmitted
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  Speaker 1: after she successfully sued party leader John Pursuto for defamation.
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  Speaker 1: It comes after a federal court judge ruled he's liable
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  Speaker 1: for Moi Redeeming's hefty legal costs. A ninth person has
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  Speaker 1: accused Olympic pole vault coach Alex Parnov of grooming and
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  Speaker 1: sexually assaulting her as a teenager. Tara Neville says she
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  Speaker 1: later took on a role as Parnov's assistant coach, hoping
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  Speaker 1: she could protect the other young female athletes in his squad.
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  Speaker 1: Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen says the coalition's nuclear ambitions
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  Speaker 1: will cripple Australia's solar grid and force big industries out
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  Speaker 1: of the country. You can read those exclusive stories right
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  Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com dot au. The government
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  Speaker 1: is plotting a revolution in early childhood education, and our
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  Speaker 1: education editor thinks the PM has more up his sleeve
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  Speaker 1: for families struggling under a cost of Living Crisis. That's
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  Speaker 1: today's episode. If you're a little kid in Australia, this
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  Speaker 1: is one of the most exciting times of the year.
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  Speaker 1: The days are long and warm, perfect for playing outside
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  Speaker 1: before dinner. The anticipation of summer holidays and Santa's arrival
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  Speaker 1: is electric, and the new year brings the promise and
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  Speaker 1: excitement of a new grade or even the jump to
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  Speaker 1: big school. All across the country, parents are packing up
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  Speaker 1: gifts and trinkets for the teachers and early childhood educators
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  Speaker 1: who've shepherded their kids through another big year. Some are
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  Speaker 1: topped with lovingly crafted cards made by the kids themselves.
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  Speaker 2: It is just one of the most heart warming jobs
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  Speaker 2: you can do.
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  Speaker 1: Natasha Beta is the Australian's Education editor.
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  Speaker 3: And the children react so beautifully.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure a lot of early childhood educators are having
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  Speaker 2: a very heartwarming time getting all their cards and notes
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  Speaker 2: from little kids at this time of the year. But
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  Speaker 2: it's something where we need to encourage more people to
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  Speaker 2: go into it and see it as a really valued
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  Speaker 2: career because it's not babysitting at all.
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  Speaker 1: Earlier this year, the government announced early childhood educators would
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  Speaker 1: be getting a pay rise they're the people who look
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  Speaker 1: after kids in daycare centers before they reach school age,
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  Speaker 1: and they're one of the lowest paid workforces in the country.
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  Speaker 1: The Prime Minister and his ministers were armed with three
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  Speaker 1: point six billion to fund a bumper pay rise, so.
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  Speaker 2: That will give them about one hundred and fifty dollars
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  Speaker 2: a week extra income. That is important because the problem
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  Speaker 2: the sector has had is it's been competing against the
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  Speaker 2: fast food sector or the retail sector. And even though
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  Speaker 2: early childhood education is such an important and can be
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  Speaker 2: a very rewarding job, it is also an exhausting job.
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  Speaker 3: You cannot switch off.
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  Speaker 2: You can't wander off and have a cup of tea
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  Speaker 2: and turn your back because the moment you do, something
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  Speaker 2: might go wrong. That is the problem is that early
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  Speaker 2: childhood education is only good for children if it is
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  Speaker 2: of high quality.
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  Speaker 3: Now high quality doesn't.
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  Speaker 2: Mean oh, look at the beautiful facilities and the fun
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  Speaker 2: playground and they do yoga classes.
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  Speaker 3: That is not quality early childhood education.
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  Speaker 2: The quality comes down to the caliber of the people
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  Speaker 2: who are caring for children. You've got to be switched
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  Speaker 2: on the whole time, so that we really do need
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  Speaker 2: to get more people into this sector. And too many
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  Speaker 2: of them are leaving because there is this so burnt
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  Speaker 2: out and exhausted that don't feel appreciated.
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  Speaker 3: And they can't afford it with the cost of living.
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  Speaker 2: It's a vicious cycle where they just can't afford to
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  Speaker 2: be looking after other people's children when they can't afford
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  Speaker 2: to pay their own rent.
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  Speaker 1: Last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi unveiled the next phase
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  Speaker 1: of Labour's vision for early childhood education at a rally
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  Speaker 1: style event in Brisbane.
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  Speaker 4: Making child care more affordable is good for families, that's
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  Speaker 4: good for the economy. For all of us know there's
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  Speaker 4: more to it. There are more than one million reasons
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  Speaker 4: to invest in early education, some of whom are here
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  Speaker 4: with us here today, one of them riding a dinosaur
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  Speaker 4: down there. Because early education makes the biggest difference for
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  Speaker 4: at littlest Australians.
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  Speaker 1: The government will scrap an activity test that requires parents
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  Speaker 1: and careers to work or study if they they want
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  Speaker 1: to access childcare benefits. It'll also give families earning a
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  Speaker 1: combined annual income of less than five hundred and thirty
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  Speaker 1: thousand dollars access to three days per week of government
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  Speaker 1: subsidized childcare if it wins the next election, and then
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  Speaker 1: there are the plans to build one hundred and sixty
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  Speaker 1: childcare centers around the country.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think it's transformational because for the first time,
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  Speaker 2: it puts the children at the center of policymaking. Childcare
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  Speaker 2: is no longer a convenience for working parents. It is
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  Speaker 2: a service for children and that's quite different to the
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  Speaker 2: way it's been treated for the past few decades. And
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  Speaker 2: I think it will be very beneficial to children.
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  Speaker 1: Experts agree that the first five years of a child's
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  Speaker 1: life are vitally important to their mental, physical and emotional development.
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  Speaker 1: And while early childhood education isn't just about giving kids
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  Speaker 1: the jump on their ABC's education, Minister Jason says it
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  Speaker 1: puts little kids in the best possible stead for the future.
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  Speaker 5: Really, it's about making sure that every child in Australia
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  Speaker 5: gets the best possible start in life. We know that
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  Speaker 5: if child goes to early education, then they're more likely
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  Speaker 5: to start school ready to learn. We also know that
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  Speaker 5: they're more likely to end up finishing high school. So
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  Speaker 5: this is about making sure that we build a better
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  Speaker 5: and a fair early education system.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I've heard from teachers saying that they get children
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  Speaker 2: arriving at school at the age of four or five
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  Speaker 2: who are still not toilet trained, let alone.
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  Speaker 3: Some children have never seen a book. They don't even
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  Speaker 3: know which way to hold it. They'll hold it upside down.
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  Speaker 2: So there are always children who come from homes where
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  Speaker 2: they don't have educated parents, or they don't have books.
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  Speaker 2: There might be very grinding poverty, there might be drug
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  Speaker 2: or alcohol abuse. For whatever reason, they are behind. So
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  Speaker 2: the evidence is there that they're all starting school at
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  Speaker 2: different levels. And children who've attend preschool in particular old KINDI,
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  Speaker 2: depending which state of charactery you around the year before school,
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  Speaker 2: have a great advantage over kids who have never learned
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  Speaker 2: to cooperate or to sit still in class, to listen,
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  Speaker 2: to take their turn. That's where you get a lot
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  Speaker 2: of behavioral problems as well.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up why Labour's early learning overhaul has been a
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  Speaker 1: long time coming. In the run up to the two
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  Speaker 1: thousand and seven federal election, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
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  Speaker 1: pledged to build two hundred and sixty childcare centers across Australia.
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  Speaker 1: It would, he said, and the nightmareish double drop off
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  Speaker 1: for parents, referring to the daily game of tetris some
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  Speaker 1: parents play when ferrying kids of different ages to school
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  Speaker 1: and daycare, which can be kilometers or even suburbs apart.
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  Speaker 6: What do we mean by an education revolution? A half
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  Speaker 6: billion dollar investment in early childhood education to enable all
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  Speaker 6: four year olds across this country for fifteen hours a
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  Speaker 6: week for forty weeks a year to be exposed to
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  Speaker 6: preliteracy and pre numerous education before they hit the school system.
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  Speaker 6: A great Labour initiative.
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  Speaker 1: But by the middle of Rudd's term as PM the
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  Speaker 1: plan had been unceremoniously dumped. Now the rud Era Infrastructure
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  Speaker 1: Plan has been partially revived by Labor as part of
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  Speaker 1: its multi billion dollar early childhood education overhaul.
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  Speaker 2: This is the.
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  Speaker 4: Single biggest investment by an Australian government ever in new
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  Speaker 4: child care services, starting with building or expanding over one
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  Speaker 4: hundred and sixty early education and care centers where they
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  Speaker 4: need most.
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  Speaker 1: So is it the right move? Here's Natasha Beta look.
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  Speaker 2: I think the only option is to start building centers
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  Speaker 2: in areas where the private sector doesn't see it as
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  Speaker 2: profitable or the not for profit sector can't afford it.
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  Speaker 2: Seventeen years ago, it was promised if they had done it,
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  Speaker 2: then we wouldn't be having to do it now. It
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  Speaker 2: seems very expensive a billion dollars, so I worked out
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  Speaker 2: that six point two million dollars per center. To me,
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  Speaker 2: the most sensible thing would be for state and territory
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  Speaker 2: governments to build childcare centers on school grounds, and I
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  Speaker 2: know that some states they are already integrating them when
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  Speaker 2: they build a new school. A lot of private schools
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  Speaker 2: are doing this because it's very profitable for them, because
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  Speaker 2: parents think it's great one drop off. So it's a
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  Speaker 2: pity it was never done all that time ago. Probably
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  Speaker 2: would have been a lot cheaper than trying to do
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  Speaker 2: it now. But we can't have these childcare deserts where
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  Speaker 2: children in certain areas just don't even have a choice,
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  Speaker 2: or the waiting lists for so long that they can
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  Speaker 2: never attend.
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  Speaker 1: Natasha says. The Albanese government solution isn't perfect, but it's
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  Speaker 1: been a long time coming and if they play it right,
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  Speaker 1: it could make a world of difference for the party
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  Speaker 1: in the run up to the next election.
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  Speaker 2: Childcare policy is a complete mess in this country because
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  Speaker 2: it's driven by a private sector and they all want
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  Speaker 2: to build in particular areas where they think they can
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  Speaker 2: charge the most money. You end up with gluts in
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  Speaker 2: certain areas and then other areas there's no childcare center provided.
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  Speaker 3: So it's a pity.
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  Speaker 2: It was never part of a government system in the
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  Speaker 2: first place, and it's just had all these changes tacked
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  Speaker 2: onto it as time goes by, so it's an incredibly
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  Speaker 2: confusing system for parents. I predict that the government will
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  Speaker 2: be making more announcements during the election campaign proper because
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  Speaker 2: the Productivity Commission had recommended that every child get free
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  Speaker 2: childcare if they're parents of the family earns less than
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  Speaker 2: eighty thousand dollars a year. I was surprised that the
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  Speaker 2: Prime Minister did not announce this, but I'd say they're
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  Speaker 2: keeping that up their sleeve because, as I said, if
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  Speaker 2: you're trying to target the benefits of early childhood education
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  Speaker 2: to very vulnerable and disadvantaged families, you must make it free.
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  Speaker 1: Natasha Beta is The Australian's Education editor. You can read
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  Speaker 1: all her reporting and analysis on the education sector right
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  Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com dot au. Thanks for
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  Speaker 1: joining us on the front this week. Our team is
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  Speaker 1: Claire Harvey, Jasper Leik, Leatsamaglue, Tiffany Dimak, Josh Burton, Stephanie
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  Speaker 1: Coombs and me Kristin Amiot