Posted January 2012
KU Children's Services, Australia's leading provider of community based, not for profit early childhood education, isn't totally surprised with the recent preliminary findings of the E4Kids study.
The early findings of the E4Kids study have identified that while early childhood education services generally provide good levels of classroom organisation and emotional support for children, the average level of instructional support when rated across a range of early childhood education settings is low.
The longitudinal E4Kids study is being conducted across a range of early childhood education settings in Queensland and Victoria, including long day care, limited hours care, family day care and kindergarten.
"Overall the findings of the E4Kids study appear to be a good reflection of the early childhood sector across Australia at the moment, given the mix of very different service types and varying qualifications of staff" said Christine Legg, KU's Chief Executive Officer.
"The findings highlight the importance of the new National Quality Reforms, and in particular the requirement for educators within early childhood services to become better qualified and obtain a greater understanding of the role they play in the delivery of high quality early childhood programs for children," explained Ms Legg.
As Australia's oldest early childhood education provider, KU has always had a strong commitment to the employment of qualified early childhood teachers in both its long day care and preschool services.
"We believe that early childhood teachers play an important role in leading the development of programs where intentional teaching and opportunities for spontaneous learning are maximised within safe, secure and enriched learning environments," said Ms Legg.
The National Quality Reforms, which incorporate the Early Years Learning Framework, came into effect on January 1 2012 and provide early childhood services across Australia with sound guidelines to ensure they provide quality teaching and learning experiences for young children.
"Whilst we acknowledge the preliminary findings of this study, and the clear indication that there is a lot of work to be done, it is important to note that there are already many services providing high quality early childhood education for young children, and through the implementation of the National Quality Reforms, the overall level of quality across the sector will only improve," concluded Ms Legg.
View the preliminary findings of the E4Kids study.