What is it and have you had your say?
In November 2013 the Abbott government requested that the Productivity Commission undertake an inquiry into Child Care and Early Childhood Learning to ascertain what could be done to make the lives of working parents easier and improve the child care system.
The Productivity Commission was established in 1998. It is the Australian Government's independent research and advisory body, and its role is to help governments make better policies in the long term interest of the country.
A chairperson and 10 other commissioners oversee the Commission. They are appointed by the Governor General to assure political independence.
The current inquiry will use evidence gathered from both Australia and overseas to report and make recommendations on how Australia can establish and develop a sustainable future for a "more flexible, affordable and accessible child care and early childhood learning market" in order to help underpin the national economy and support the community, especially parents' choices to participate in work.
It will also look at learning and children's growth, welfare, learning and development.
What's The Reason for The Inquiry and What Does It Aim to Cover?
The market for child care and early childhood learning services is large, diverse and growing, and it touches the lives of practically every family in Australia.
Almost all children in Australia participate in some form of child care or early learning service at some point in the years before starting school.
In 2012, around 19,400 child care and early learning services enrolled over 1.3 million children in at least one child care or preschool programme (comprising around 15,100 approved child care services and 4,300 preschools).
The Australian Government is the largest funder of the sector, with outlays exceeding $5 billion a year and growing. It is important that this expenditure achieves the best possible impact in terms of benefits to families and children as well as the wider economy.
The reason for the Productivity Commission is the awareness that the child care and early learning system can be improved because:
- Families are struggling to find quality child care that is flexible and affordable enough to meet their needs and to participate in the workforce
- A small but significant number of children start school with learning and developmental delays
- There are shortfalls in reaching and properly supporting the needs of children with disabilities and vulnerable children, regional and rural families
- Services need to operate in a system that has clear and sustainable business arrangements, including regulation, planning and funding
- There is a need to ensure that public expenditure on child care and early childhood learning is both efficient and effective in addressing the needs of families and children.
Scope of the Inquiry
The Productivity Commission will report on and make recommendations about the following:
- The contribution that access to affordable, high quality child care can make to:
- Increased participation in the workforce, particularly for women
- Optimising children's learning and development.
- The current and future need for child care in Australia, including consideration of the following:
- Hours parents work or study, or wish to work or study
- The particular needs of rural, regional and remote parents, as well as shift workers
- Accessibility of affordable care
- Types of child care available including but not limited to: long day care, family day care, in home care including nannies and au pairs, mobile care, occasional care, and outside school hours care
- The role and potential for employer provided child care
- Usual hours of operation of each type of care
- The out of pocket cost of child care to families
- Rebates and subsidies available for each type of care
- The capacity of the existing child care system to ensure children are transitioning from child care to school with a satisfactory level of school preparedness
- Opportunities to improve connections and transitions across early childhood services (including between child care and preschool/kindergarten services)
- The needs of vulnerable or at risk children
- Interactions with relevant Australian Government policies and programmes.
- Whether there are any specific models of care that should be considered for trial or implementation in Australia.
- Options for enhancing the choices available to Australian families as to how they receive child care support, so that this can occur in the manner most suitable to their individual family circumstances.
- The benefits and other impacts of regulatory changes, principally the National Quality Framework (NQF), with specific consideration given to compliance costs.
What does the Government Aim to Achieve by this Inquiry?
The Australian Government's objectives are to look at and identify future options for a child care and early childhood learning system that:
- Supports workforce participation, particularly for women
- Addresses children's learning and development needs, including the transition to schooling
- Is more flexible to suit the needs of families, including families with non-standard work hours, disadvantaged children, and regional families
- Is based on appropriate and sustainable funding arrangements that better support flexible, affordable and accessible quality child care and early childhood learning.
The Commission is due to present its initial findings in July 2014 with the final report being submitted before the end of October 2014.
If you haven't had the chance to contribute or air your views through the various forums and official meetings held throughout the country over the last few months, then the Productivity Commission offered a facility on its website to enable time-poor members of the community to provide comments on their experiences with early childhood education and care. You can still make a submission to the Commission here, although comments made now may not be reflected in the final report.
You can also view comments made to date by clicking here.
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