Assessing the impact of early childhood care and education

High-quality programs have been shown to increase children’s life chances – yet understanding of what constitutes ‘quality’ provision in Australia and the value obtained from the $4.7 billion invested annually in early childhood, education and care programs by Australian governments is limited.

The five-year $2.2 million E4Kids (Effective Early Educational Experiences) study is an Australian Research Council Linkage project which will provide evidence about ways to improve early learning and social experiences and establish positive life trajectories for Australian children.

More than 2800 three- and four-year-olds attending from over 800 services (long day care, limited hours care, family day care kindergarten and, in 2011, prep) in Victoria and Queensland are now part of the E4Kids study, one of Australia’s largest-ever education studies.

The children and families who are participating represent a broad cross-section of Australian society, attending a representative range of early childhood settings. More than 50 researchers started working with them in 2010.

E4Kids is now in its second year, having generated baseline data in 2010. It will continue to follow these children until they sit their first NAPLAN tests at the age of eight. The project’s chief investigator is Professor Collette Tayler, who holds the Chair of Early Childhood Education and Care at the University of Melbourne Graduate School of Education.

“There is evidence from studies around the world that the early years are a critical influence on an individual’s educational and life outcomes,” Professor Tayler said.

“What happens in the early years has an enduring impact on adult social participation and productivity.

“There is strong evidence that high-quality early childhood education and care programs can increase children’s lifelong learning and social participation.”

The first year of E4Kids has already generated findings about the pedagogical practices of teachers and carers in the field. According to Professor Tayler, early analyses indicate that, in 2010, early childhood settings were generally doing well at providing emotional support in the areas of the positive climate, sensitivity and having regard for children’s perspectives. However, ratings were low in the area of learning support for children (known as ‘instructional support’), which includes the development of concepts, provision of feedback and the modelling of language and literacy.

“These findings are similar to evidence from studies in the US,” Professor Tayler said. “Instructional support is not didactic teaching, but rather the presence of reciprocal conversations, expanded vocabulary and modelled language, and the exploration of concepts linked to early understandings about the world and children’s everyday lives.”

E4Kids’ final results will be announced in 2015. The results are expected to support ongoing reform effort to improve the quality of early childhood experience in Australia.

E4Kids is a project of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne and is conducted in partnership with Queensland University of Technology. The project is funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage Projects Scheme, the Victorian Government Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, and the Queensland Government Department of Education and Training. E4Kids is conducted with academic collaboration with the University of Toronto at Scarborough; the Institute of Education, the University of London; and the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne.

See: www.e4kids.org.au