Page 2327 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 1 November 1989
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years behind but also emotionally and psychologically behind because they had not had the chance of that kind of preschool education.
It was a United States Government program that helped prepare preschool children of poor families for the experience of school. Local communities throughout the country operated these headstart centres, which have been going ever since. They work to provide activities to stimulate emotional, intellectual, physical and social growth. The program was administered by the office of human development services of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
In this headstart service, volunteers and parents played a considerable role. The parents themselves were involved, and they served on parent policy committees with representatives of community groups and professional organisations. We ask for this same kind of concern as people are consulted about their local preschools in the ACT. They provided a preschool educational program, lunches and snacks, medical, dental and mental health services, and social services for the children's families.
I now want to come to the optimum size that was recommended for the headstart program. This is the figure there. Again, it is so difficult to know what is the most accurate figure or the best figure or the optimum figure. In the headstart service, most groups consist of 15 children and three adults.
Now I am not saying the headstart program has to be copied - not at all - but it is interesting, is it not, that over that long period headstart has come to see that about 15 children is a special optimum for these kinds of conditions? The three adults in each case are a teacher, a teacher aid and a volunteer. The adults involve the youngsters in all the usual activities - field trips, language development, music, science and so forth.
So, in coming to this question of preschools and the closing of preschools, I would again urge this absolutely crucial nature of neighbourhood. To be sure, if you start looking at figures on paper and you see 22 here or 19 there, it looks as though if you add them together and make a bigger school it would be good for the budget. It may be, but it may not be good for the children. It may not be good for those preschool children.
I want to urge that these children deserve very special attention. Other areas might need to be looked at, and that would create other problems, I realise. A final thing here is that we are also involving parents often in their first experience with the educational process. These parents are at the stage at which they are becoming keen about their children's education at this preschool level. They are the ones who are going to be in the parents and citizens groups all through school, as many of us have
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