Early childhood education and childcare is reopening to ACT families from 25 October.
According to Early Childhood Australia, the buzz among adults has been around face-to-face learning alleviating stress on parents, while children are simply excited to see their friends again.
CEO of Early Childhood Australia, Samantha Page, said the biggest learning element children five and under have been missing out on through lockdown is certainly the interaction with others their age.
“Children learning in groups is where they develop critical communication and collaboration skills within the first five years of life,” said Ms Page.
“They learn how to be curious and confident, skills that set them up for success in school and higher education.
“The ability to problem solve, which they also learn in quality education programs, has proven to be highly related to success right through the education career.
“Furthermore, we’ve seen time and time again that children from the age of three benefit from being in an education program delivered by qualified educator. Even as little as three days a week helps them to make a smooth transition into school.
“We are seeing that parents recognise their children are missing out on that time to be with other children and have those social opportunities – although everyone is very cognisant of the risk of Covid-19, particularly since children can’t be vaccinated.”
According to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the employment rate for partnered mothers whose youngest child was under five years was 63 per cent in 2019. Ms Page said this “absolutely proves” that childcare is an essential service in today’s society.
“Quality early childhood programs have a triple benefit. They allow parents to work – particularly women – to have that continuity of employment and earnings.
“They benefit children, setting them up for long-term educational outcomes. We know that children who participate in early childhood education are more likely to finish school, gain employment, and have better mental health. The economic benefit from both outcomes lifts up our community.
“Thirdly, quality early childhood programs can help identify disabilities and additional needs in children and target early intervention programs. We more than get our money back.”
Keeping that in mind, according to the OCED, childcare costs 24 per cent of the average Australian couple’s wage as of 2020.
Ms Page said this is in no way a fair cost for an essential service, in lockdown or otherwise.
“The out-of-pocket costs parents pay in Australia is much higher than many other parts in the world, and that’s because we don’t invest enough publicly.
“Most developed nations are investing much higher proportions. We should be thinking of early education as part of the education system and start investing in children early.”
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