The IEUA NSW/ACT Branch calls on the Federal Government to continue Universal Access funding to ensure four year olds have access to 15 hours of early childhood education and care (ECEC) delivered by a university qualified teacher.
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The May federal budget included a statement which said government spending on the National Partnership agreement on Universal Access to early childhood education will end from June 30, 2020 (5 August, Financial Review).
The Review reports a saving of more than $440m, together with a cut to the Quality Agreement program for early childhood, leading to cuts close to half a billion dollars.
This is a huge backward step for early childhood education. The recent Lifting Our Game Report commissioned by COAG clearly details the benefits of extending Universal Access to three year olds.
To decouple funding from the National Quality Framework would be to seriously undermine children and their families, because according to the Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project, high quality preschool education has been shown to:
- increase children’s intellectual achievement, concentration, social skills, independence, cooperation, self-regulation and peer relationships upon entry to school
- improve prereading skills, non-verbal reasoning and early number skills, and
- decrease anti-social behaviours and the risk of developing learning difficulties later in life.
Preschools are heavily dependent upon funding and need certainty in order to set future budgets and daily fees.
The IEU is very concerned that the Federal Government has not committed to maintaining Universal Access funding on an ongoing basis.
One-year extensions to funding put preschools in a constant state of financial uncertainty.
NSW has the highest fees in the country and the lowest enrolments numbers, and these financial cuts will only exacerbate that situation.
Verena Heron – IEUA NSW/ACT Branch
