Canberra's youngest students to benefit from important legislative change

083/11

In the Legislative Assembly today I will be announcing some important changes to the legal status of ACT public school preschool units.

The introduction of the Education Act Amendment Bill 2011 means that for the first time ACT public school preschool units will be subject to the same legal, licensing and regulation requirements under the Education and Care Services National Law (Act) 2011 as other early childhood education and care services in the territory.

The ACT Labor Government is committed to providing children with the best start in life. Making sure Canberra’s youngest students have access to quality preschool education is a major part of that commitment.

That’s why in 2009 we amalgamated all ACT public preschool units into our public primary schools. This has helped preschool school children, their families and teachers to develop closer ties with their amalgamated primary school and experience a smoother transition to primary school education.

The ACT is a national leader in the delivery of quality preschool education. As part of our ongoing work to improve the accessibility of preschool education, we have been working closely with the Federal Labor Government to implement a new National Quality Agenda for Early Childhood Education including a National Quality Framework.

This framework is being applied to all long day care, family day care, outside school hours care and independent preschool sectors and as part of the implementation process and by introducing today’s amendments, we are expanding the definition of government schools in the Education Act 2004 to include ACT public preschool units.

These changes will support the rollout of the National Quality Framework and underpin further improvements in the quality and accessibility of preschool education in the ACT.

The ACT Labor Government will continue to ensure our youngest students get an education that ensures they can develop to their full potential.