Should the states run early childhood education? - CareforKids.com.au®
Should the states run early childhood education?
SA's Jay Weatherill says states "lose sight of children"
More often than not we're used to states abdicating responsibility over key issues, but in an article in the Australian Financial Review recently, SA Premier Jay Weatherill is reported as proposing that the states take over responsibility for education.
In the run up to the state leaders' retreat in Sydney, Mr. Weatherill said that one of the areas for reform should be the way that education (from early childhood to high school and beyond) is managed.
According to Mr. Weatherill, the states should take responsibility for early childhood and school education, with higher education and vocational training being governed by the federal government.
Mr. Weatherill believes that state governments should be responsible for "the education of children from birth to the end of secondary schooling", essentially becoming "the sole manager of early childhood development, prevention and early intervention services, primary and secondary education".
Currently child care is partly funded and regulations overseen by the Commonwealth, with little state involvement, but Mr. Weatherill believes there needs to be more state involvement and that the state should deal with policy regulation and delivery of public services.
He does not however believe there should be a shift in funding arrangements, saying "current Commonwealth spend on those services would either continue through single block funding grants to states (or other ongoing funding arrangements)… as part of the Commonwealth's continuing commitment to the Gonski funding arrangements", he said.
The states only commitment to and interaction with children at the moment is from birth to one year old, by way of antenatal services, health checks and immunisations, which essentially, according to Mr. Weatherill, "that states lose sight of children between the age of one and four, unless it's through the episodic contact with specialist services".
"As a result", he says, "it's often the case that by the time they re-enter the state pre-school and schooling system, learning and other difficulties have deteriorated or become entrenched. The long-term costs of addressing these issues often are borne by the states.
Mr. Weatherill believes it would be "so much more rational if we had one level of government taking responsibility for the way in which a child develops right from the start".
Currently the principal focus of the Gonski funding is the bottom 20 per cent of students who have learning difficulties and making sure that their learning needs are addressed. A reform where the states take over responsibility of early childhood education would in Mr. Weatherill's opinion "be profoundly important to reduce the size of that task and make a massive contribution to the effectiveness of that task of educating our children when they come into our schooling system".
We want to know what you think?
Should there be continuous care and responsibility of children by the state from zero to end of school?
