Three-year-olds entitled to 15 hours per week of kindergarten under a proposed Early Childhood Royal Commission plan

A huge preschool shake-up could entitle three-year-olds to 15 hours per week of kindy – but with an educator crisis, who’s going to teach them?

Financial incentives and changes to SA’s teaching degree structure could be considered to find new educators for a $212 million universal preschool rollout by 2032, the state government says.

All South Australian three-year-olds would be entitled to 600 hours of preschool – the same amount as four-year-olds – under a model proposed by the Early Childhood Education and Care Royal Commission.

Commissioner Julia Gillard, a former prime minister and federal education minister, included 33 recommendations in an interim report released on Monday.

As well as the 600-hour entitlement (equal to 15 hours per week), the report recommended that three-year-olds who are already in daycare or non-government preschool should receive their preschool through that setting.

To meet demand for children not already enrolled, the report recommends boosting capacity in government preschools and commissioning “integrated service hubs” in areas of high developmental vulnerability.

In other areas, it said, demand should be met by “market response”.

Premier Peter Malinauskas admitted there would be difficulties finding educators for the program, which will begin to be rolled out from 2026 and is expected to hit “full uptake” by 2032, but believed SA was up to the challenge.

About 660 early childhood teachers and more than 1000 other staff would be needed to roll out the program by 2032, modelling showed.

“The recommendations are ambitious but that’s exactly what we wanted,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“If we want to see less children in an intergenerational cycle of welfare dependency we have to break the nexus at some point – this gives us the vehicle to do that.”

Children in areas of “high need” could be eligible for up to 30 hours of preschool per week under the proposal.

Education Minister Blair Boyer said the state government would engage with its federal counterpart over university incentives to increase uptake in teaching degrees and bolster the education workforce.

Mr Boyer said the government would also look at moving toward an interstate model of ‘birth to five’ early childhood degrees, rather than the state’s current ‘birth to eight’ degree.

“Victoria is offering quite big incentives to snatch people from across the border to become teachers – in some cases up to $50,000 … it would be very disappointing if what we saw was all the states and territories cannibalising the others’ workforces,” Mr Boyer said.

Commissioner Julia Gillard. Picture: Matt Loxton

“We have to make it a value proposition that they’re willing to put their hands up for.”

The three-year-old preschool program would be covered under the federal child care subsidy, which the education minister believed would further incentivise parents to take up early education.

“As the federal government puts that rate up, which they will do, or make it cheaper … the financial consideration itself will mean that many families will take it,” Mr Boyer said.

“Many families will hit 90 per cent reimbursement with the changes which will make that proposition a lot more palatable for families.”

The proposed changes would come at a cost of $212 million by 2032, which Mr Boyer said was “lower than expected”.

Mr Boyer said discussions would be undertaken with the federal government around capital costs, but the state government was prepared to foot the full bill if required.

Ms Gillard said South Australians will now have the opportunity to give feedback on the recommendations, before the work of the Royal Commission is finalised in August.

“I genuinely believe this report should be of interest to every South Australian, whether or not they have young children in their family or young children in contemplation in their family’s future,” she said.

“And that is because … as a caring state, South Australians feel that we have a moral obligation to every child to make sure that every child has the best opportunity to grow and learn and thrive.”

She said it was also in the best economic interests of the state, given research that has proven the importance of the early years of a child’s education.

The state government will provide a response to the recommendations by May 19.