(The following is a letter from NSW Minister the Hon Sarah Mitchell MLC published in the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW's Summer 2018/2019 edition of The Nurture Nook (see page 16).)

As Minister for Early Childhood Education, and a mother, I believe access to quality early childhood education is absolutely crucial to ensure all children, no matter where they’re from, have the best possible start to their lives.

In recognition of this, the NSW Government has prioritised early childhood education, and we’ve invested a record amount of funding in the sector across a broad range of programs and priorities.

Earlier this year, we delivered a budget that will see more than $474 million invested in early childhood education over the next four years. This includes an investment of nearly $200 million to be the first state in Australia to extend subsidies to all three year olds attending community preschool.

The Liberals & Nationals in government have a strong record of investment in early childhood education. We have prioritised this extremely important sector and as long as I’m lucky enough to hold this role I’ll be fighting tooth and nail for that to continue.

NSW has around 5,400 early childhood education and care services, the largest number in Australia compared to the other states and territories.

As a mother of children who attend a Long Day Care service, I know the bond my children develop with their educators is equally as important as the quality of the education they receive. As Minister, I’m proud of all the services across the state who have made significant improvements in quality during my tenure. Since 2015, there has been an 19% increase in the number of services rated Meeting the National Quality Standard or above, rising from 57% to 76% as of June 2018.

To ensure high quality is maintained across all services, the quality assessment and rating system is crucial. As of October this year, 96% of NSW services have been quality assessed and rated, compared to the national figure of 94%. As a State we’re ahead of the rest of the country.

The quality assessment and rating system promotes transparency, accountability and professionalism. Feedback from the sector has indicated that services welcome this engagement with the Department. By the end of June 2019, all NSW early childhood education services will have been quality assessed within the past three and a half years. The NSW Government will ensure that this three and a half year timeframe for rating and assessment continues into the future.

In addition to the assessment and rating process, there are several other quality support programs that the NSW Government has introduced to lift the quality of early education and care services. This year we have allocated $5 million on the Quality Support program aimed at intensively engaging with 300 services rated at ‘Working Towards’ the NQS to help lift their performance. The Aboriginal Quality Support program and the Out-of-school-hours care Quality Development Program are other examples of support programs.

We recognise that the quality of the early childhood education and care sector is also closely linked to the quality and professionalism of its workforce. On 9 August 2018, I launched the NSW 2018-2020 Early Childhood Education Workforce Strategy, with an initial commitment of $6 million in funding.

A number of focus areas have been identified as priorities for action in the short to medium term including:

• Promoting the early childhood sector to the public as a critical part of a child’s educational journey, and as an attractive field to build a career for prospective educators;
• Supporting educators and staff to obtain appropriate qualifications and experience to prepare them for the workplace;
• Building the skills base of the workforce by supporting educators and teachers attend professional development and update their qualifications and skills; and
• Supporting services to retain educators and teachers, embed sustainable business practices and manage the challenges of staff turnover.

This Government knows how crucial early childhood educators are, so it is vital we help them obtain appropriate qualifications and experience to best prepare them for the workplace.

Currently scholarship programs offered include the Aboriginal Early Childhood Education Scholarships Program and the Rural and Remote Early Childhood Teaching Scholarships. These support diploma-trained educators who live and work in rural and remote parts of the state to upgrade their qualifications to a bachelor degree.

I would like to thank each and every one of the nearly 66,400 early childhood educators in NSW for your ongoing commitment to ensuring every child – whether they are from Byron Bay, Bourke or Bondi – has access to a top quality early childhood education.

We all know the benefits of a quality early childhood education and how important it is for a child’s social, cognitive and emotional development, and this would not be possible without all of our state’s incredible early childhood educators.

Thank you,

The Hon Sarah Mitchell MLC
NSW Minister for Early Childhood Education