The key tasks for the implementation process, outlined in Figure 36, span the expansion of the number of places available, through to engaging with the community about why two years of preschool is beneficial for children and a worthwhile investment, and to the development of a data and evaluation plan.
Figure 35: Design and planning considerations for 3-year-old preschool programs
Key task
Priorities and potential pathways
Agreement on the core features and minimum requirements of the
model
Considering how to deliver a 3-year-old preschool program within the existing early education and care platform and with reference to the needs of children and families.
Clearly defining the structural elements of the 3-year-old preschool program - minimum dose, qualifications, ratio, group size, etc. as well as considering a framework to define the key elements or features of process quality, as outlined in the previous section on the design features of a preschool programs for 3 year olds.
Assessing capacity and growth possibilities
Utilising exiting data to develop a clearer understanding of what 3 year olds are currently receiving and the hours they are already accessing (i.e. confirming that a large proportion of the 3 year olds currently in centre-based early education and care are already receiving more than 15 hours early learning).
Scoping, at jurisdictional and regional levels, where there is:
capacity within the existing system and market, particularly within existing Long Day Care and sessional preschool
services;
likely to be inadequate supply or demand; and a need for investment to create additional capacity.
Working collaboratively to identify potential solutions and learn from existing models and approaches to address gaps in the market.
Considering potential flow-on impacts on the broader early education and care sector, particularly around affordability and financial viability of services.
Agreement on key target
cohorts and identification Utilising existing research and data, as well as knowledge within the sector, to develop a clearer understanding of the specific strategies have been successful or unsuccessful at addressing financial and non-financial barriers to access for 4-
of evidence-based
engagement strategies year-old preschool.
Clarifying priority cohorts such as (but not limited to):
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children Children known to child protection systems Children with disabilities
Children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds or who are humanitarian entrants Children from the bottom two quintiles of family income (e.g. Family Tax Benefit Part-A children).
Consultation with key stakeholders should include providers, peak bodies, communities, families and children.
Implementation planning
Developing jurisdictional-specific implementation plans in collaboration with relevant stakeholders and developing specific stakeholder-consultation mechanisms.
A structured and phased roll out that builds capacity over time is appropriate.
Commitment to a workforce strategy
A renewed commitment to an Early Years Workforce Strategy is timely as the current strategy is due to expire in 2016 and the quality of the learning environment experienced by children is the key determinant of whether the investment in 3- year-old preschool will yield the types of long-term outcomes that makes this a priority investment. Leveraging existing investment and reform processes to ensure an appropriately skilled and available workforce is a necessary component of delivering a high-quality 3-year-old preschool program, and given significant progress in meeting NQF requirements would be an appropriate focus of a new workforce strategy.
Consultation with key stakeholders should include providers, peak bodies, professional bodies including universities, training organisations and unions.
Figure 36: Implementation considerations for 3-year-old preschool programs
Key task
Priorities and potential pathways
Expanding number of places available
Expanding the capacity of the sector to accommodate a significant increase in the number and hours of 3 year olds attending is a key implementation challenge.
As with Universal Access for 4 year olds, a different approach will be needed in each jurisdiction in order to take into account very diverse modes and patterns of provision. Approaches may include:
Working with sessional preschools to identify options and models for organising their programming to optimise
access.
Working with Long Day Care providers to identify options and models for organising their programming to integrate 3-
year-old preschool programs.
Local strategies to ensure service viability.
Fostering development of a community preschool sector or preschool provision within Long Day Care settings,
especially in jurisdictions with primarily school-based provision for 4 year olds.
Working region by region to scale up over time.
Identifying areas where investment in capital works is needed, following assessment of utilisation of existing facilities.
Consideration of how existing funding, regulatory and subsidy mechanisms are creating barriers or opportunities for affordable access where places exist.
Increasing number of early childhood educators
Building on existing workforce plans for the ECEC sector, jurisdictions should forecast the number of early childhood educators needed over the decade to achieve two years of preschool program. Strategies to increase the number of early childhood educators should build on strategies that have been used effectively to meet the NQF requirements and may include:
Scholarship programs for Diploma and Bachelor qualifications
Incentives and support to upgrade qualifications from Diploma to Bachelor
Collaboration with the higher education sector to ensure adequate places for pre-service teachers are available
Addressing workforce challenges
There are persistent and complex workforce challenges in the early childhood sector which are likely to impact on educator recruitment and retention. In particular, inequities in pay and conditions between sectors can create disincentives for early childhood teachers to work in non-school settings. Monitoring the development and
implementation of the workforce strategy will assist in identifying short and medium term priorities, opportunities and challenges.
Developing a learning program for 3 year olds
Providing clarity for the sector and for families about the nature and structure of the learning program provided for 3 and 4 year olds is a critical element of developing and implementing a 3-year-old preschool program.
This would involve guidance for the sector on applying the Early Years Learning Framework for 3 and 4-year-old cohorts, and how to build on and scaffold learning pathways across the two years of preschool.
This guidance would need to be sufficiently flexible to allow educators to respond to the needs, priorities and interests of their communities, but also provide some coherence and rigour to the preschool learning program.
Recent evidence on the effectiveness of specific strategies on supporting early literacy, numeracy and social and
emotional learning should be considered.
There is an opportunity to collaborate with university teacher-education programs to develop a coordinated approach
to training pre-service teachers to deliver 3 and 4-year-old preschool programs.
Plan for transition support and monitoring quality
Given the absolute necessity of a high-quality learning environment in order to reap the benefits of investing in 3-year-old preschool, a plan for supporting the sector to transition to the delivery of two years of preschool, and for ongoing
monitoring of quality, is necessary.
Capacity building for the sector to support transition and equip educators to design and deliver quality learning
programs for 3 and 4-year-old children.
The current pace of the Assessment and Rating process under the National Quality Standard is too slow to guarantee
that all providers will be meeting minimum quality thresholds. Additional investment may be needed to accelerate the Assessment and Rating process, in a way that does not compromise the effectiveness of the process or create
unnecessary burdens on services).
Consideration could be given to embedding a validated assessment tool as part of the NQS process for preschool
programs (Fox 2016).
Communicating the rationale for 3-year-old
preschool to the community
Community support for 3-year-old preschool is important for both uptake and support for government investment in the early years.
Currently, many people hold a different framing and understanding of early learning than professionals and child development researchers (Kendall-Taylor & Lindland 2013).
A community education campaign to share information about the role and impact of two years of preschool, and
about what and how children learn and develop, could be effective.
Testing strategies to engage priority cohorts
A clear lesson from the implementation of Universal Access is that the cohorts who stand to benefit most from high- quality preschool are those who are likely to experience barriers to access.
Jurisdictions have trialled a range of approaches to increase attendance for 4 year olds and there are important lessons to be learnt from this experience (Moss, Harper & Silburn 2015).
The roll out of 3-year-old preschool is an opportunity to embed the more effective of these models across the system in a coherent and integrated way, and to build the evidence to support the effectiveness of these strategies.
Data development and evaluation plan
One of the most significant limitations of the National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access has been the lack of data to evaluate its effectiveness or measure its impact on children. All levels of government have been working to strengthen their data capacity and work towards more consistent and robust data.
Adequate data, a commitment to measuring impact and clear strategies to build the necessary evidence base (especially around dosage, duration and quality thresholds) must be a core component of the delivery of 3-year-old preschool. A phased implementation gives the opportunity for natural experiments and embedding quasi-experimental methodologies in the design and delivery of the new model. This opportunity should not be lost.