Queensland urged to introduce a ‘pre-prep’ year to its education policy

Calls have been made for the state government to follow NSW and Victoria and introduce a ‘life-changing’ extra year of early learning. VOTE NOW

Experts have called for the state government to follow NSW and Victoria’s groundbreaking move to introduce an extra year of early education as part of a “life-changing” reform.

Under the historic new policy, NSW children would have access to an extra year of education as part of a $5bn plan to introduce pre-Kindergarten by 2030. Victoria is set to announce a similar new policy this week.

NSW’s new policy would put about 130,000 children into free pre-kindergarten education five days a week by 2030. In NSW kindergarten is the first year of primary school.

The classes would not be compulsory, but a similar policy in Canada has a take up rate of more than 90 per cent.

If Queensland were to adopt a similar policy, it would essentially be a “pre-prep” year, University of Southern Queensland early childhood education expert Dr Alice Brown explained.

“Queensland schooling starts at prep, so this would be a year prior to prep,” Dr Brown said.

“It would mean play-based early learning opportunity in an age appropriate way.”

Dr Brown said the latest research showed a child’s first 2000 days were critical for “ongoing life success”.

She said the sooner Australia invested in childhood education the better.

“It’s fantastic, very timely and I think it’s something all states should put into line,” Dr Brown said.

“This is life changing reform and hopefully Queensland will adopt it. This is an investment for the future of our country.”

Dr Brown said the new policy would support hundreds of thousands of working class families and provide children with a year of play-based learning in an age-appropriate way.

She said the first 2000 days of a child’s life paved the way for their health, wellbeing and helped set them up for future contributions to society.

Queensland has been urged to introduce a free pre-prep year. Picture: iStock

Charles Sturt University childhood expert Dr Leanne Gibbs said high-quality childhood education favourably influenced children’s “intellectual, emotional and life trajectories” and played a vital role in civil societies.

Dr Gibbs said she supported any new policy that prioritised the development of children.

“A cohesive approach that everyone can access,” Dr Gibbs said.

“Those high-quality experiences for children in their early years have such a great outcome with their development.

“It should be universal.”

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews labelled universal pre-Kindergarten as “the greatest transformation of early education in a generation”.

A Queensland Department of Education spokeswoman said in January 2022, the state government had announced its most significant kindergarten reform in more than a decade.

The spokeswoman said the reform ensured more than 40,000 Queensland children per year would benefit from reduced prices or free kindergarten from the $1 billion investment.

“Not only will families and children reap the benefits, the funding reforms also help support the capability and viability of our workforce to deliver quality kindergarten for all children,” she said.

“Participation in kindergarten has gone from 29 per cent in 2008 to 98 per cent today.”