CCSA welcomes the joint Commonwealth-State announcement of additional preschool funding over the next four years.
The new National Preschool Reform Agreement, with NSW as its first signatory, is designed to ensure every child will receive high quality education in the year before school, regardless of where they live or their background. Funding will be linked to reforms to increase preschool participation rates and improve outcomes. Details of these reforms have not yet been released.
The Commonwealth Government has committed $560 million over the next four years, with the NSW Government committing $280 million to support the new agreement. The funding will be utilised to improve outcomes in community preschools, mobile preschools and long day care services.
The objective of the agreement is to ensure that every child in New South Wales will have the opportunity to attend at least 15 hours of preschool a week in the year before school. It will also aim to increase the quality of preschool and long day care education by delivering targeted programs for children who experience disadvantage, and to have a greater focus on transition to school.
Like earlier National Partnership Agreements, the new agreement only covers the year before school. CCSA will continue to advocate for the Commonwealth to extend its support to the two years before school, as New South Wales already does.
While further extension of support and release of the fine detail of the agreement is still required, CCSA recognises the importance of a four-year commitment to early childhood funding rather than the recent year-to-year arrangements.
