As a sponsor of the Early Childhood Australia (ECA) Everyone Benefits Campaign, ECMS welcomes the release of the State of Early Learning in Australia 2017 report on Monday 11 September.
The report shows that:
- national participation in four-year-old kindergarten has increased from just 12 per cent in 2008 to 91 percent in 2015, a direct result of the targeted Universal Access policy funded by federal and state governments.
- Victoria’s four-year-old-kindergarten enrolment rates are higher than the national average, at 97 per cent.
- children who attend early learning are half as likely to have developmental vulnerabilities in one or more learning domain(s) when they start school as children who don’t attend any form of early childhood education.
ECMS interim CEO, Dr Judith Slocombe, says:
“As one of Victoria’s largest early learning and care providers, ECMS is proud of our state’s four-year-old kindergarten participation rate.
“While this is good news, we know that two years of high-quality early learning is better than one.
"ECMS is keen to continue to work with both our state and federal governments to advocate for two years of high-quality early learning for all Australian children.
“Everyone benefits from the investment we make in children and the earlier we invest, the better the long-term outcomes for all Australians. Children who participate in quality early learning are more likely to do well at school, progress into further study and positively contribute to our society.”
Further information:
ECMS' 2016-2020 Strategic Plan – Expect Great Things reflects our commitment to providing high quality and accessible early learning and care with a focus on growing our services for children aged zero to three years. ECMS’ five-year strategic plan has been informed by international research that tells us the earlier we invest in children, the better the long-term outcomes for all of us.