The NSW Auditor General has released a report on the Performance Audit of Early Childhood Education, confirming the legitimacy of many of the concerns we have been raising in recent years, particularly regarding inconsistent implementation of policies, programs and funding.

The audit report confirmed that whilst enrolments in quality early childhood education programs in NSW are increasing, they are below the national benchmark, as only 77% of children in their year before school are enrolled in ECEC programs, well short of the national target of 95%. It is however a significant improvement on 2013 when only 59% of children were enrolled.

The Auditor-General has recommended that funding provided by the Department to ECEC services should be tied to children enrolling for at least 600 hours, which you may recall was reflected in the 'bonus funding' associated with this year's Long Day Care National Partnership Grants. The Auditor General also confirmed our criticisms that funding for education in long day care is limited and not targeted to disadvantaged children.

Click here to access the Executive Summary of the report, or click here to access the Auditor General's media release.

Members should refer to the 27 May 2016 Weekly Update member email for further information.