South Australia’s kindergarten enrolments fall for third straight year

Experts say the first few years in a child’s life are vital for brain development, so why are kindy enrolments in this state declining and what’s needed to reverse the trend?

More flexible enrolment options, extra community services and an easing of red tape are being called for as South Australia’s public kindergarten enrolments drop to the lowest in years with a further dip in numbers expected in 2022.

Parents have until the end of this month to register an interest for their child to attend a public kindy next year but numbers are tipped to be down for the third consecutive year.

Preschool Directors Association president Ann Millhouse said while the recent decline could be explained by a birthrate drop and the impact of Covid-19, the downward trend still raised a red flag.

She said she wasn’t aware of any centres in danger of closing but some may be forced to operate part-time.

“The drop in numbers is concerning … there will have to be some discussions around what we can do to better meet the needs of the community,” the veteran educator said.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1312 fewer babies were born in SA in 2017 than four years earlier, dropping again in 2018 – the birth years for a child to be eligible for kindy in 2022.

child in kindergarten

Education Department statistics show 17,185 children were enrolled in a state preschool during term 3 of 2015, dropping to 16,056 for the same term in 2020, with further falls tipped this year and next.

Mrs Millhouse said changes to the sector at a national level, through the implementation of the National Quality Framework in 2012, had added “layers upon layers of bureaucracy” with new restrictions preventing preschools from offering additional services such as play­group sessions.

She is also advocating for changes to the “clunky” enrolment process, including allowing parents to enrol their children early at a kindergarten of choice.

“For some parents, I think it is just too hard and they say ‘We will go to our local (private) early-learning centre’. We need to create a bit more flexibility,” Mrs Millhouse said.

She also sees merit in again offering multiple enrolment opportunities.

“Some children are missing out on kindy completely … if we had the flexibility to allow children to start as they turned four, at least they would get three terms of kindergarten, but we can’t do that,” she said.

She estimates some local kindergartens have lost 25 per cent of enrolments to Catholic Education primary schools which now offer a mid-year Reception intake for children as young as 4-and-a-half, waiving fees for the first six months.

“Kindergarten is very different from primary school, it is about children developing a sense of wonder, curiosity and problem solving while allowing children to be children,” she said.

Education Department early years and child development executive director Caroline Croser-Barlow, describing the recent decline in enrolments as “modest”, said the state government was conscious of creating more flexible options, including making it easier for kindy children to access local Out of School Hours Care.

“We do hear that parents are looking for those flexible … options and are looking at it as a system to see how we can better support that,” she said.

Dr Croser-Barlow urged parents with children eligible for preschool next year – those who turn 4 before May 1, 2022, to register an interest for a spot next year.

She said children eligible for kindy this year, but not yet attending, can still enrol for the last two terms of 2021.

Australian Education Union SA president Lara Golding said quality early childhood education helped smooth a child’s transition into school.

“Experts agree that the first few years in a child’s life are the most important time for brain development and key to building good social and emotional skills, which will smooth a child’s transition into school,” she said.

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