NSW Government's 100 new preschools at schools by 2027

It was an election promise that now the NSW Labor Government is going ahead with - 100 new preschools (to be co-located with public schools) to be built with a budget of $769.3m during their first term of office (ie 2023-2027).

Prior to the 2023 NSW state election and since, ACA NSW and the NSW sector received clarifications from NSW Labor:

• "Recognising oversupply currently exists in a number of areas, co-located preschools under this plan will be targeted to areas with identified genuine need of additional preschool places" (24 June 2022)
• a video recording of the then NSW Shadow Minister Prue Car (9 March 2023)
• "... to make sure that this happens without cannibalising other services and support services that already exist". (19 June 2023)

Yet, the NSW Department of Education's Assessment Panel Decision Making Framework determined these 100 new preschools at public schools while limiting the consideration of "To what extent would a new preschool build negatively impact existing local ECEC services" to 25% of the assessments' total value for these new preschools.

Hence, unless there is a seismic increase in population (especially of children) in particular parts of New South Wales (and we know how reliable the NSW Government's housing and population projections are), there will be a number of the NSW Government's 100 new preschools that can create or exacerbate oversupply. It is also important to remember the published observations of the ACCC Interim Report (dated July 2023) that fees increase by up to 40% due to oversupply. As such, ACA NSW fears negative repurcussions on parents and families who will experience future fee increases across existing services due to oversupply.

Furthermore, these 100 new preschools will also need at the very least between 200 and 600 early childhood educators and teachers. Such new and additional recruitment demands will undoubtedly compete with those of existing early childhood education and care services' who are already struggling to recruit and retain amidst severe labour shortages and significant competition.

Other concerns also include the NSW Department of Education's continuing use of the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) as a major consideration of 30% of the assessment when searching for the locations for these new preschools.

Members will recall the NSW Department of Education expressing their concern in September 2022 that 40% of children were not developmentally on track upon starting school (based on AEDC data). Yet, despite ACECQA highlighting that 90% of early childhood education and care services (it is 87.6% for NSW-based long daycare and standalone preschools) are rated Meeting, Exceeding or higher, such quality ratings appear to be of no value in the NSW Department of Education's Assessment Panel Decision Making Framework. 

And finally, using the same approved $769.3m budget, the NSW Government is yet to announce another 50 more new/upgraded preschools that will be created on independent schools' sites.

ACA NSW met with the NSW Department of Education on 22 February 2024. A commitment was made to release further information to provide potentially affected services with greater understanding of the Department's decision. ACA NSW will update Members accordingly. 

PLEASE NOTE: A transparent and effective planning system for new early childhood education and care services continues to be a vital important reform proposal from ACA and ACA NSW, as outlined in ACA's Final Submission to the Productivity Commission (dated 14 February 2024) (see section 5.2, pages 91-96.) 

For any further information/clarification, members can contact the ACA NSW team via 1300 556 330 or nsw@childcarealliance.org.au.

​UPDATED: 26 FEBRUARY 2024

PUBLISHED: 20 FEBRUARY 2024​