Preschool for all 3-5 Year Olds Hangs in the balance

Preschool for all 3-5 Year Olds Hangs in the balance

The federal government's $1 billion election promise of preschool for every child is in doubt, after Victoria declared it would miss the 2013 deadline. Will NSW and QLD be next?

Victoria's Minister for Children, Wendy Lovell, said Victoria, Queensland and NSW would have "problems" guaranteeing all children at least 15 hours a week of affordable preschool, taught by a university-qualified early childhood teacher, in the year before they start school.

An article in The Australian reported that Victoria's Minister for Children, Wendy Lovell, said the state will miss the 2013 target, because it simply does not have enough preschool centres or qualified teachers.

"We need more time to build more infrastructure and train more teachers. We're trying to negotiate an extension of the time line to 2016, and also some additional funding", she said

The federal government will pay the states and territories almost $1bn to implement the election promise, which was agreed to by the Council of Australian Governments in 2008.

But Ms Lovell said Victoria's $210 million share of federal funding "doesn't even touch the sides" of the $600m infrastructure gap.

But federal Minister for Early Childhood Peter Garrett said all other states and territory governments were working towards the 2013 deadline, so there was "no reason Victoria should not do the same" and that Ms Lovell and her department should "get on with the job of implementation".

Federal Childcare Minister Kate Ellis urged all states and territories to enforce the national regulations.

"I would be concerned … if they walked away from the commitments they've made through their premiers and chief ministers," she said.

We would be concerned too. Because it appears no one is actually enforcing this promise… What happens if the states simply fail to come to the party? Will the Federal government step in to take measures to ensure our preschoolers do get the 15 hours a week they need and that were promised?

In Europe, children start school a year earlier than in Australia with children starting in Reception = Kindergarten or year 1 if you're in VIC or QLD) at the age of four. In the UK, children are guaranteed 15 hours per week – five sets of 3-hour preschool days in the year before they go to school.

In France all children aged 3 to 5 attend preschool, mostly in public programs.

According to an article in the USA Today by veteran education journalist John Merrow, even in 2002, almost all 4-year-olds in England, Luxembourg and the Netherlands went to public school. So did more than 70% of Greek children of preschool age, more than 80% of Spanish children and more than 90% of those in Germany, Denmark and Italy.

Australia is supposed to be one of the better off countries of the world. Its economy is "safe" and doing very well thank you compared to most European countries. So why are we still so far behind in education, particularly of our younger children?

This must surely be to do with the Australia's ridiculous buck passing between state and Federal governments. It's time that education and essential services in Australia were centralized and came under Federal legislation.

What's the point of having education, the cornerstone of our society and its development, under state legislation? Pre-school education should be provided and funded by the Federal Government – all across Australia – for all children. Surely we can't be one of the last remaining industrialised countries to be able to get our act together for the next generation?

We'd like to hear from you in this month's poll.

Should a minimum of 15 hours per week of pre-school education for three years and over be mandatory and free for all families and do you think that education and related services be the same no matter what state you live in? Click here to share your view