Review of preschool funding ‘a concern’

The Coalition government has resisted mounting pressure to make a long-term commitment to preschool education.

The government has resisted a long-term commitment to preschool commitment. Picture: AAP

The Coalition government has resisted mounting pressure to make a long-term commitment to preschool education, announcing a one-year funding extension and flagging a review of the future of the program.

The allocation of $453.1 million to guarantee universal preschool access for four-year-olds to the end of 2020 should be welcomed by the early-childhood sector, alongside initiatives to boost poor participation rates among indigenous and poor children.

However, an unexpected review of the program flagged in a statement from Education Minister Dan Tehan hailing his government’s record education spend could cause significant unease.

“Record investment must be matched by a plan that ensures that money leads to improvements for all Australian students and their families. That is why we will conduct a national preschool review through the Education Council,” Mr Tehan said.

Details of the review and what it would entail were not disclosed. Labor will provide two years of preschool funding, expanding the program to three-year-olds should it win the election.

Under existing arrangements, children receive 15 hours per week of subsidised preschool in the year before they start primary school. The federal government pitches in a third of the cost alongside the respective states and territories.

The Coalition’s reluctance to lock in funding beyond each budget period has been the cause of much concern in the sector, which has lamented the lack of certainty.

And while preschool enrolments have grown from 206,000 in 2008 to an expected 348,000 this year, rates remain a concern, prompting the government to announce $1.4m to develop strategies to further lift participation among children from the bush, including from indigenous families.

Record spending for schools remains on track, and is set to rise by 63 per cent over the coming decade. Another $4.5 billion for non-government schools, which follows the recommendations of the Chaney review of the flawed methodology of calculating funding, is factored into the spend.

Recurrent funding for all schools will hit $21.4bn in 2020, up from $19.6bn, and the government has announced initiatives aimed at lifting outcomes in line with recommendations of the Gonski review of educational excellence.

They include $9.5m over four years to help boost teachers’ capacity in maths and phonics instruction by providing online courses and resources; $30.2m worth of small grants for upgrades to school libraries, classrooms and play equipment; $5m for Life Education Australia to develop free training resources to help schools support the social and emotional needs of students; and $2.8m for new resources to teach students about respectful relationships.

While the budget holds firm to the Coalition’s education policy, and is in line with recent statements from Mr Tehan that “spending more money won’t help our kids if the money being spent is wasted”, it is unlikely to appease the public education lobby, led by the Australian Education Union, which wants financial contributions to government schools.

It wants the original Gonski funding, promised by the previous Labor government but never fully funded, reinstated, which Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has pledged to do.