Draft:Early childhood education in Australia

Early childhood education in Australia refers to education and care provided to children from birth to around eight years of age, including preschool, kindergarten and centre-based child care programs delivered under state, territory and federal policy frameworks. Services are delivered by a mix of government, not-for-profit and for-profit providers, and are regulated through national quality and funding systems such as the National Quality Framework and the Child Care Subsidy.

Administration and funding

Responsibility for early childhood education is shared between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments, with national agreements setting priorities for universal access to early childhood education in the year before full-time school and for improving quality across the sector. The Australian Government’s Child Care Subsidy provides means-tested support to eligible families using approved services, and requires services to use registered software to manage attendances and subsidy claims.

Service types

Early childhood education in Australia is provided through several service types, including long day care centres, sessional preschools and kindergartens, family day care, and outside school hours care. Large provider groups operate networks of centres, while many community-based and independent services operate single sites or small clusters of services.

Digital management and information systems

Approved early childhood education and care services that claim the Child Care Subsidy must use registered child care software to report enrolments and attendances to the Australian Government. The government maintains a list of approved software providers, which includes solutions such as Kidsoft, OWNA and other systems that meet technical and legislative requirements.

A number of commercial platforms are used by services to support administration, billing and communication with families. Kidsoft is a cloud-based childcare management system that provides Child Care Subsidy-compliant software and is marketed to services across Australia. OWNA provides childcare management applications, including tools for documentation, communication and subsidy processing, and is used by early childhood services in Australia and New Zealand. KindiCare operates a digital directory and comparison service that allows families to search for childcare centres and compare information such as vacancies, fees and ratings.

Curriculum and quality

Curriculum guidance for early childhood education and care services is provided through national and state frameworks, including the Early Years Learning Framework, which outlines principles, practices and learning outcomes for children from birth to five years of age. Services are assessed and rated against the National Quality Standard, which covers areas such as educational program and practice, health and safety, physical environment, staffing, relationships with children, and governance and leadership.