The Minister for Early Childhood Education and Child Care, Kate Ellis, today welcomed the release of the Child Care and Early Education in Australia report.

The report was commissioned in 2006 by the Office for Women (Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs), and was written by a group of academics from institutions that include Charles Sturt University, Macquarie University, Curtin University and the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.

It also draws on data obtained from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), which followed almost 10 000 children and their families over two years from 2004, to find out detailed information about their lives and experiences.

Overall, the report found that:

• children attending school or a preschool program had better language skills than children who did not attend an early childhood program;
• high quality care is associated with gains in language and cognitive outcomes in toddlers and preschoolers;
• in groups where teachers were university qualified and offered more teacher-supported small-group activities, children had higher pro-social behaviour and less problem behaviours;
• current funding and regulation processes are multi-layered and complex.

Ms Ellis said the report supports the Australian Government’s recently announced National Quality Framework. Through the framework, the government is working towards improving access to high quality early childhood education programs, delivered by a better qualified early childhood workforce, improving staff to child ratios and regulatory arrangements.

A copy of the report can be found at FaHCSIA.