For many years the AEU has despaired at the inequality between the availability of four year old education and the differences across the nation.  With the unfolding of the Universal Access, we are pleased to say that kindergarten (or pre-school in other states) will now be available to all four year old children.

In Western Australia we are a step ahead in that we already have kindergarten available to all children and therefore the transition to 15 hours per week was the challenge.  With half our schools having made this change, we must reflect that there has been some pain, but most have been able to come up with solutions that still protect our working conditions.

Underpinning this change are the regulations which will apply to not only our kindergartens, but all centres that care for children 0 to 5 years.  These are being drafted at present and although we welcome the opportunity to regulate the industry, we also need to ensure that our members are protected.

Kindergarten teachers and principals will be put in the position of having to take on extra workload and be accountable to not only the Department of Education, but also to the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood and Care Regulations. There are many questions that need to be asked such as who applies for the Supervisors Certificate and consequently who has ultimate responsibility?  There is a Rating System, but can this rating be used to the detriment of the centre? Who pays the fine if the centre has breached a clause? What qualifications do the assessors have? What parameters are available for on-going assessment? Will a grandfather (or as I like to say grandmother) clause be put in place so those teachers who are three year trained and have a wealth of experience are protected? And so the list goes on.

As well as these changes, two other documents that have been released which will impact on early childhood teaching. Plus, the imminent release of the Curriculum which commences in pre-primary (called kindergarten in eastern states).

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The EYLF (Early Years Learning Framework) is one of these documents.  We have been informed this is a learning framework and not a curriculum framework.  It acknowledges that the way children learn in early childhood is much more integrated and therefore we need to ensure the curriculum is covered with the principles in the EYLF being adhered to.  This will be a challenge for many. Is kindergarten about preparation for school or do we let students be 4/5 year olds all year? We also have an obligation to ensure curriculum doesn’t become a set of activities to fill in a child’s time, but it’s about skills that we need for life such as cooperation?

This juggling act of marrying the curriculum with principles of the EYLF has been acknowledged in a recent review (Review of Educational Practice in Kindergarten, Pre-Primary and Year One Provision in Western Australia: Synthesis of Findings). The review talks about the need for leadership to make change /reform in relation to this alignment and consequently ‘fit for purpose’ assessment. It highlights leadership at all levels including system, university, policy, networks, regions, school and classroom. Where will this leadership stem from and who will fund it?  Will it be in the ‘right locations’ so it accessible to everyone?

Yes, we do have a challenge ahead of us.  It is encouraging to see that both our Federal and State Governments are acknowledging that the education of our youngest students needs to be a priority for the future.  The challenge for us is to make this work while invigorating our teaching, but not burn ourselves out with workload.