Welcome to Best Start in Life, where we share information on the department’s programs for early childhood education. Our first edition focuses on Victoria’s Syndal Pre-school Director/Teacher Shiona Watson and her staff. The preschool participated in a successful pilot program for the implementation of Universal Access, a joint commitment between the Australian Government and all state and territory governments ensuring all children will have access to a quality early childhood education program by 2013.
Successful Victorian pilot shows way for Universal Access
Syndal Pre-school in Glen Waverley, Victoria, took a community approach to how and what it needed to change as part of the Universal Access pilot program.
Pre-school Director/Teacher, Shiona Watson, said there was a clear benefit from involving parents, teachers and management in tweaking hours, timetables and class sizes to ensure the children at the pre-school could have access to a total of 15 hours class time instead of the 10 hours prior to the pilot.
“We’re a community school, my children went here, and so did the children of two of the other staff. We care about this school. I’ve been here for eight years as a teacher,” Ms Watson said.
“I see it as giving the children more of a good thing and the research has shown it’s important in both the long and short term.
In order for the pre-school to move toward increasing class time by five hours a week, a broad range of consultation was undertaken.
“Before we joined the pilot, we set up a sub-committee, we surveyed the teachers, around 85 families of existing students and contacted parents of future students.
“We asked them about the length of sessions, timetables, how many days a week and any concerns they might have.
Of course, with any sort of change there were many questions about how the new arrangements could be negotiated, how they would be implemented, and what adjustments would have to be made across the Lizards (three year olds), Dolphins and Echidnas (four year olds).
“One of the big things we asked was about the three year old kinder. Everyone wanted us to keep it – so we had to work out how.
“We’ve moved from a rotating three year old kinder of 33 children over two out of three sessions a week.
Left: Syndal students focus on numeracy. Top right: Students discover dinosaurs. Bottom right: Painting classes teach students about drawing native flora. View more photos in our gallery
“Although this gave parents a choice of days, everyone decided that one group of 23 children over two sessions a week would work out fine.
“Other students were in the process of moving to other pre-schools in the area, and our numbers are always flexible, so this outcome suited everyone.
“We’re also looking into using a new building across the road to run another three year old group, and between our six part time staff some can increase their hours to cover this possibility.
“The whole process of consultation was really positive, of course there was some negotiation, but in the end I think we’ve got the best situation for the children.”
Ms Watson and her staff are pleased that the outcomes tested in the pilot were the product of consultation across the pre-school community.
“Everyone felt like they had a voice,” Ms Watson said.
“It was an exciting thing, we knew we weren’t going to please all the people all the time, but we knew this was the time to do it.
“Being involved in the pilot meant we could try things and always knew we could change things back next year.”
‘The four teachers and two assistant teachers have embraced the changes, and have found they’re learning more from each other’
The extra contact hours for teachers meant that some changes would have to be made in both the yearly and daily programs of study.
“One of the areas we had some negotiation around was the end time for the day, which in the end, would affect the teacher changeover time,” she said.
“As part of the Award, unless otherwise agreed, there is a 45 minute changeover between teachers.
“If we were to keep this, and increase the contact hours, the end time would have been 4:15pm – which we all agreed was too late.
“After negotiation, all the staff agreed to a 30 minute changeover, with a finish time of 4pm, and it still gives us enough time for planning and organisation.
“This suited everyone and its one of the things we intend to continue into next year.
“We also started out with a full day on a Friday, but after discussions with the parents we’ve changed that day.
“The children were just too tired, so we’ve moved a part day to Friday and we now have the full day in the middle of the week.
Director/Teacher Shiona Watson
“These are just some of the things we’ve tossed around and worked out how things can work best – that’s the great thing about taking part in the pilot.
“We’re ready now.
“We know there’s a clear benefit in Universal Access, and at the very least it’s that we’re able to get to know every child better.
“We’ve even noticed there seemed to be less separation anxiety.
“It may have been this group of children – but it also might have been because of our ability to bond better with the children in those extra hours each week.
“The four teachers and two assistant teachers have embraced the changes, and have found they’re learning more from each other.
“The teachers are benefiting from the team teaching arrangements we’ve introduced.
“They’re able to share ideas and collaborate and the children get exposed to different teachers, which is always good for their growth.
“In all, this experience has been successful for us.
“We’re happy to have accomplished what we have, in what ended up being a very positive experience.
“We’re even more pleased we could have accomplished this before the implementation in 2013.”
Did you know? |
| Data current at time of publishing |
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Universal Access in Australia
- The Australian Government is providing $955 million over five years to state and territory governments to ensure that all children will have access to a quality early childhood education program by 2013, delivered by a university-trained early childhood teacher, for 15 hours a week, 40 weeks a year, in the year before formal schooling.
- The Council of Australian Government’s goal of universal access to preschool will see at least 51,000 more children in preschool in 2013.
- At the end of 2010, state and territory government reports confirmed that more Australian children than ever before are accessing preschool or kindergarten, with four in five children enrolled last year and attending for an average of more than 14 hours a week.
- Four out of the eight states and territories are already meeting the 95 per cent enrolment target.
Child care in Australia
During the December quarter 2010:
- 13,807 child care services provided care for 911,990 children from 653,310 families.
- Parents received $482.5 million in Child Care Benefits and a further $372.4 million in Child Care Rebates.
The Australian Government will invest:
- $9.2 billion through the Child Care Benefit in the four years to 2014-15; and
- $7.2 billion In the four years to 2014-15 through the Child Care Rebate to pay up to 50 per cent of out-of-pocket costs for families.
- around $149 million a year under elements of the Child Care Services Support Program to help new services start, assist with operational support or to support services that are struggling, particularly in regional areas;
- $292.62 million for Children and Family Centres; and
- $114.5 million for 38 new Early Learning and Care centres.
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Universal Access in Victoria
- The Australian Government is providing $210 million over five years to ensure Universal Access in Victoria.
- At the end of 2010 Victoria had achieved:
- 99.9 per cent enrolment for four year olds, who were attending kinder for an average of 16.1 hours a week. (Average hours in the of community sector were 12.8.).
- A participation rate for Indigenous children is 85.7 per cent, well above the 2010 target of 65 per cent.
- Enrolments for disadvantaged students are up from 95.1 per cent to 99.3 per cent.
- The average cost to parents per week is $33.71.
- The number of university-trained early childhood teachers was 1149, well above the target of 850 by the end of 2010.
Child care in Victoria
During the December quarter 2010:
- 3034 child care services provided care for 203,140 children from 144,470 families.
- Parents received $109.9 million in Child Care Benefits and a further $85.8 million in Child Care Rebates.
During 2009-10, in Victoria alone, the Australian Government invested:
- $399 million through the Child Care Benefit;
- $291 million through the Child Care Rebate to pay up to 50 per cent of out-of-pocket costs for families.
During 2010-11 it invested:
- around $27.4 million under elements of the Child Care Services Support Program to help new services start, assist with operational support or to support services that are struggling, particularly in regional areas;
- $16.6 million for Children and Family Centres; and
- $17.4 million for 11 new Early Learning and Care centres.
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Do you want more information about education and care services?
Over the next four years the Australian Government will invest a record $20 billion in early childhood education and care. The quality of this experience has a profound influence on the future wellbeing of those children.
Mychild.gov.au is Australia’s online child care portal. Visit to find out more about:
- Universal Access
- The National Quality Framework
- National Quality Standard
- Child Care Rebate and Child Care Benefit
- Local child care services
- Different types of child care
For more information about early childhood education and care in Australia, go to www.mychild.gov.au or free call 13 36 84.
For more information about Universal Access, go to www.deewr.gov.au/Earlychildhood/Policy_Agenda/ECUA/Pages/home.aspx.
To read more about the Australian Government’s investment in the future, go to www.deewr.gov.au/ezines.