Page 1158 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 28 March 2017
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The importance of early childhood education in the ACT.
MS CODY (Murrumbidgee) (3.41): I rise today to speak about the importance of early childhood education in the ACT. We in Canberra have access to the best education services in the country. Many of us here today, including me, are the proud product of a public education.
From preschool to college and on to university, the ACT truly recognises the importance and life-changing potential of a quality education. On this matter of public importance, I want to discuss not only the role of early education in shaping a child’s life but also the valuable work that early childhood educators do in caring for and preparing Canberra’s youngest for school.
As members would be aware, early childhood education is one of the most important protective factors for young children. The health, emotional growth and socio-economic wellbeing of an individual have their foundation in early childhood. We know that if we get it right in the early years we can expect to see children thrive throughout school and into their adult lives.
Caring, educational, inclusive and supportive environments greatly enhance a child’s transition from preschool or day care into a formal school environment, and in Canberra we have continued to see steady increases in the number of ACT children enrolled in preschool. In 2012, for example, there were 5,060 children aged four or five years who were enrolled in a preschool program in the ACT. Within three years, this number had increased by more than 35 per cent, to 6,839 children. These numbers are a testament not only to our growing city but also to the irrefutable knowledge that quality early childhood education is critical in allowing children to reach their full potential.
In 2012 the commonwealth, states and territories implemented the national quality framework. The national quality framework is a transformative reform of the education and care sector. The introduction of the national quality framework acknowledged a fundamental shift in the understanding of early childhood services as providing an important learning environment for young children, rather than simply childminding.
Importantly, more children from Canberra’s Indigenous communities are attending local preschools. Support for Indigenous children in the early years before school is particularly important to ensure a successful transition to school, which may involve a culturally different learning environment.
When a child is given every opportunity at the earliest ages to succeed, our community also benefits. Our community benefits because well-adjusted and supported children can grow up to create healthy and respectful relationships of their own. Our community benefits when these children can grow up to participate and thrive in the local economy. And our community benefits when they give back to our city by passing on their lessons of wellbeing, respect and participation to their children.
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