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Early Childhood Intervention Australia, 9th Biennial Conference

Introduction

" Thank you for inviting me to speak to you at this conference.

" What has brought us together here today is a matter of great importance.

" It's about the quality of life that children with disability and their families should haveand deservejust like everyone else in our community.

" And a very important part of this is ensuring that all children have meaningful learning opportunities  including children with additional needs.

" And for government, the community and the nation as a whole, it's about making sure we give these children the best possible chance to realise their full potential.

" Our overriding objectives are:

o To help turn a child's disability into ability in a way that enhances their quality of life, now and in the future.

o To give every child the best possible start in life.

o To make sure no child is left behind because of their disability.

The research

" The early years are a crucial period in the life of each and every child. As we know from realms of local and international research the experiences that a child has in their early years critically shapes their future life outcomes, including health, wellbeing and happiness.

" And this period is even more critical for children with additional needs. A longitudinal study into the Effective Provision of Pres-School Education (EPPE) Project in the United Kingdom found that children with disability, learning or developmental delay were less likely, once they started school, to be classified as having additional needs if they attended preschool than if they did not attend.

" In addition, the study found that children with additional needs received greater benefits in terms of positive cognitive process and social/behavioural development where services had better staff to child ratios and sensitive adult-child interactions.

" In Australia, the STaR Inclusive Early Childhood Project provided an early childhood program in a number of child care centres to children aged between 0-6 years with significant disabilities, including many with multiple disabilities. The outcomes from this program showed that all children had clear improvements across a number of developmental domains, including cognitive and social.

" The message from this research is clear, and it accords with what service providers amd parents have been telling governments for years - if we provide the right support and intervention for each child and their family, we are giving them the best possible foundation to have a fulfilling life.

Children with disability

" In the year that I have been Minister for Early Childhood Education and Child Care, I have, unfortunately, heard from a number of families who have children with additional needs tell me that it can be difficult to get the support they need.

" And we know that children with disability are underrepresented in child care and in preschool. This is not good enough.

" The reasons for this are complex, but we know that parents of children with disability overwhelmingly want their children to access early childhood education and care services in the mainstream.

" They want their children to learn, play and grow with their peers of all abilities.

Access to child care

" We know it is important that all children, particularly those with additional needs, can access high quality care so they get the best possible learning experience. It is also important for parents, so they can participate in the workforce and have a little time from their caring role.

" The Australian Government provides additional assistance to child care services through the Inclusion and Profession Support Program, so they can provide access to and high quality care for children with additional needs.

" Before I go onto outline the measures under this program, I would like to acknowledge the fact that I have had some feedback that these programs need to be improved.

" And I have taken steps to have a closer look at how these programs work, to see if we can better support children with additional needs in child care. I think this is absolutely critical, and I would welcome suggestions and feedback from the audience today about how we might achieve this.

" The Australian Government funds Inclusion Support Agencies who work directly with child care staff to provide them with practical advice and access to a range of supports.

" These may be in the form of planning tools such as a Service Support Plans, funding for additional educators, training, bicultural support and specialised equipment.

" Children with disability form the largest group of children with additional needs who are supported by Inclusion Support Agencies.

" These agencies also assist eligible child care services in accessing the Inclusion Support Subsidy to help them employ an additional educator so they can increase their staff-to-child ratios and better support kids with additional needs.

" For home-based care, including family day care, it provides a capacity payment to recognise the additional care and attention the carer needs to meet the high support needs of a child.

" And the number of children with disability supported through this subsidy is growing.

" Over 4000 centre-based services and over 200 home based services are currently receiving the subsidy supporting over 7,000 children with additional needs.

" But as I have said, I have heard feedback that the support for services can be hard to access, and the paperwork and administration requirements to access additional support can be complex and time consuming.

" I am determined to look for ways that we can improve how this program works, so it becomes easier for families who have children with additional needs to access child care.

Targeted early intervention

" We also know that targeted early intervention services, especially when accessed early, make an enormous difference to the progress of children.

" Early intervention, coupled with high quality care and education that is delivered by competent and empathetic early childhood professionals, is the ideal towards which we should all strive.

" We know that the challenge is to bring early intervention and education and care settings together:

o by further developing the role of early childhood professionals

o by embedding the principles of inclusion into our early childhood policies, and

o by strengthening our programs to support these aims in the child care and preschool sectors.

Rollout of the National Quality Framework
" We all know that every child deserves the best possible start in life.

" That's why improving the quality of early childhood education and care is high on the Australian Government's nation-building agenda.

" COAGthe Council of Australian Governmentsagreed last December to work towards lifting the quality of early childhood education and child care.

" Since then, we've been working intensively and cooperatively with the sector to implement a new national quality framework, to help us achieve this goal.

" The key elements of this framework are simple but far reaching. They will deliver:

o better carer-to-child ratios, so each carer has more precious time to spend with the children in their care

o new qualification requirements for all early childhood education workers, so carers can lead activities that really help children learn and develop

o a new quality ratings system, so families can easily compare the quality of different child care services and make informed decisions about what's best for their children, and

o a new national body to manage the quality system, with state and territory agencies responsible for administering regulations.

" There has been some criticism and misinformation about the cost implications of these reforms. Before we decided to proceed with the reforms we undertook extensive economic modelling on the impact.

" The modelling estimated that the average out-of-pocket cost increase (including Government subsidies) for a family on $80 000 would be $0.57 per week in 201011, rising to $8.67 per week by 201415 for one child who attends full time long day care (50 hours per week).

" We believe these reforms are critical - because we know that if you start right, kids are set for life.

" These reforms will benefit all families and children, particularly children with additional needs or disability.

" Lifting the bar across all areas of early childhood education and care means there will be more and better qualified staff for all children.

" It means children with additional needs will have better care opportunities to help them focus on their ability rather than their disability.

Looking ahead

" The Australian Government recognises the critical importance of the early years.

" No Australian childwhether they have disability or notshould be allowed to miss out on getting a good start in life.

" And that's what the Australian Government's reform agenda for the early years is all about.

" I would like to thank Early Childhood Intervention Australia for its continuing advocacy work in the area of early intervention and for proving this forum to discuss a way forward.

" I know there is much to learn from this conference and I wish you all the best in your discussions.

" Thank you.

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