Insights

Parents have long struggled to find and afford child care that meets their needs; and child care businesses have equally struggled to balance the cost of providing quality, developmentally appropriate care with the limited revenues available to them.

Childcare is expensive and licensed center-based care is unaffordable for families of poor to modest means. There is broad public support for more government spending on childcare as long as that spending does not result in another unfunded entitlement that worsens the deficit.

Reducing the effects of significant adversity on children’s healthy development is essential to the progress and prosperity of any society. Science tells us that some children develop resilience, or the ability to overcome serious hardship, while others do not. Understanding why some children do well despite adverse early experiences is crucial, because it can inform more effective policies and programs that help more children reach their full potential.

Access to a high-quality preschool program is one of the few proven strategies for lifting outcomes for all children.

This report comes at a time when the Australian economy is reeling under the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. More than at any other time, young Australians need to be prepared to face an uncertain economic and social future. The uncertainty they face increases the importance for education and training in Australia to foster the development of a broad range of knowledge and skills. To meet the challenges of the future, Australians must grow up resilient, adaptable and well-informed.

Research has shown that higher levels of self-control in childhood are associated with improved health and financial outcomes, life satisfaction and decreased levels of substance abuse and criminal convictions in adulthood (Moffitt et al., 2011). Based on this retrospective analysis, the positive development of self-control is of interest to policy makers looking to promote success across the health, education, economic and social domains in adulthood.

The COVID-19 crisis that has engulfed the world during 2020 challenges children’s education, care and well-being. Many parents struggle to balance their responsibilities for childcare and paid employment, with a disproportionate burden placed on women. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation of families had been described as ‘a global childcare crisis’.

Not very many television shows can claim that they have helped millions of children. But Sesame Street can. A study first written in 2015 but recently published in the American Economic Journal quantifies just how big a difference the show made, comparing the educational and professional achievements of children who had access to the show compared to those who didn’t.

The Invisible Children report (2017) put forward several recommendations to tackle the growing developmental challenges facing Australian children. Stories of The Invisible Children examines the lived experiences of children, teachers and community members from rural towns across NSW between 2017 and 2018.

There is an increasingly strong evidence base that demonstrates the impact of the early years on outcomes later on in life. While early childhood experiences do not entirely dictate future trajectories, they do create the foundations for all future learning, health and wellbeing.