Early childhood education is the most important of all, when it comes to education,or its lack, for whole of life outcomes! Positive or negative!
If one really wants to waste public money, one can commission an absolutely critical report, then do nothing about it.
Almost as useful as standing outside, with your fingers in your ears, repeating endlessly, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
Really, all we need do, is eliminate all welfare for the rich, to add around 70 annual billions to the budget, that then makes a means tested early education/childcare, a very doable option!
However, ending welfare for the rich requires far more courage, than that currently being exhibited, by either side of politics, or the greens, who as usual, can't see the flamin forests for the flamin trees! Too many off farm/forest investments perhaps!?

On another note, and with La, la, la in mind.
Three men, an Australian, a Kiwi and an Irishman, were waiting at the pearly gates, seeking entrance.
Now given St Peter was having a very slow day, while Satan was being rushed off his feet, he decided to relax the entrance exam somewhat, to boost his slow day intake!
So, turning to the Aussie he inquired, where's Bondi Junction?
Somewhere near Bondi Beach? Inquired the Aussie.
Good enough answered the Saint and allowed the Aussie in!
Turning to the Kiwi he asked, Where are the Southern Alps?
Ka, ka crikey, the South Island of NZ? Replied the hopeful Kiwi.
Good enough, in you go, replied Peter.
Turning to the Irishman, Saint Peter decided he'd need to keep it very simple and asked, how many L's are there in can can?
The Irishman screwed up his brow, started counting his fingers, and then his toes when he passed a hundred.
Around a 150, replied a sweat soaked Paddy.
150? Asked the astounded Saint, how do you figure that?
To which Paddy promptly broke out into song, and started to La,la, la,la etc and so on, to the music of can can.
Well, we were talking about education?
Rhrosty.

I would question the myth that early childhood education is important.

The brains of young children have not formed enough for them to learn much, and trying to teach young children something such as reading is a waste of time.

The frontal lobe area of the brain simply hasn’t developed enough for young children to learn much.

http://www.opprose.org.ar/opprose/Charting%20the%20maturation%20of%20the%20frontal%20lobe.pdf

Children would be better running around and getting some exercise, or carrying out spontaneous play than sitting still and listening to a teacher.

A look at the OECD tables for education shows Australia is very mediocre in children’s education performance, but Australia is one of few countries that start children as young as 5 in primary school.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/leaguetables/10488555/OECD-education-report-subject-results-in-full.html

Children will learn very little in so-called early childhood education, and if it interfers in spontaneous play that it can be quite disadvantageous for children.

Research suggests that pre-school education is valuable, especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

A significant issue in the Australian context is that early childhood teachers in pre-schools are required to be university trained, whereas a teacher in a formal child care centre may only have a TAFE qualification. Many child care centres are much inferior to formal pre-schools in their educational programmes.

Child care centres have care as their main focus and are variable in their focus on education.

Bren,

There is minimal education for a 2 or 3 year old. Physically, their brains have not formed enough for them to learn much at all.

Day care centers are not “early childhood education”.

Day care centers are glorified child minding centers, but these child minding centers are becoming an industry.

The danger is that this industry attempts to convince the public that it is essential for children to be left in these child minding centers, and to pay large amounts of money for it also.

Incomunicardo:
Your opinions are just that!
Opinion, and not backed by any informed study, just the opposite!
In our first five years we learn a whole language, toilet habits, personal hygiene etc!
And by the time we turn 7, right from wrong!
Recent surveys showed that those who were taught early, had the best academic results later, and indeed, were the majority who went on to uni/professional careers/successful business and so on!
Whereas, those not given said advantages, often fell behind academically, had failed relationships, were often attracted to criminality,(their only way out?) and were the biggest prison demographic, as adults.
So there are whole of life consequences of early disadvantage, which is exactly what you are preaching, and from a point of quite abysmal ignorance! No ifs, buts or maybes!
A recent survey of INFORMED Australian voters, showed that as many as 50-60% of them, would change their voting intentions, if anyone tried to stymie early ed!
Some will tell you. we only use some 10-15% of our brains to learn or cope/solve problems.
So babies brains have plenty of mental capacity to learn, and very much more so, while in alpha mode as very small children.
In alpha mode, they are little more than empty vessels absorbing everything they see, hear, touch or otherwise experience.
And from a memory standpoint, somewhere in those dark recesses of the mind, is a memory of absolutely everything we have seen, heard or done/experienced!
And as some would say, garbage in garbage out!
Thank heavens you're not in a position to make decisions for kids or have any of your own?
Rhrosty.

Pre school education basically targets four year olds, though some children may start as young as three. Most learning programmmes in child care centres are focussed on the older children.

Bren,

I think there is a misconception that once a child is able to see and hear, they should be able to learn to read and write.

And being able to read and write should give them a good start when they commence primary school at the age of 5.

And it would make life so much easier for those poor, over worked primary school teachers, and they would have to work a lot less, and every day they could start school at 8.45 am and be home by 3.30 pm.

(Weekends and public holidays not included, nor 10 weeks annual holidays a year).

Unfortunately the ability to see and hear is not the only factors in ability to learn.

http://www.nature.com/pr/journal/v57/n5-2/fig_tab/pr2005138f1.html

Indeed, a child’s motor skills don’t start to properly form until 4 to 5 years old.

So the danger is that children will be compelled to sit on their backsides learning to read and write, when their brains and bodies are not developed enough for this, and every cell in their body is telling them to get up, run around and play.

But I guess we have to think of those poor, overworked primary school teachers before anyone else.

I would question the myth that early childhood education is important.
Incomuicardo,
I tend to agree with you on that. Many, many, many potential decent people have been denied their right to develop naturally through early childhood. This gross injustice was incurred upon them by those academic experts who have no inkling of normalcy. Is it any wonder we have have near collapsed societies everywhere ? Social development has been denied & indoctrination enforced. Oh, the intellectuals ! I don't suppose there is such a thing as myxomatosis for intellectuals ? It sure would help getting sanity back on track.

Individual,

It wouldn’t be too bad if they called it a "child minding center", or even a "day car center".

But it becomes a rort when someone tries to convince parents that they should spend a lot of money and put their 3 year old in a so-called “early childhood education center” to learn the alphabet and read and write.

Next mothers will be told it is totally essential to play Mozart to the baby while it is still in the womb.

Incomuicardo,
i'm sure there are plans already on the drawing board for a Mozart experiment.
What I would like to hear from these social engineering experts of say 40 years ago & their supporters of those grand schemes is, how do they feel about their achievements now ?
Do the countless failures & no-hopers make them feel proud ? Are they proud of PC & it's impact ?

Individual,

If it is called “early childhood education”, then there needs to be testing, to ensure the “education” is working.

And this is now occurring, where 4 year olds are being tested.

These 4 year olds have not even started primary school yet.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/297595/Primary_Accountability_and_Assessment_Consultation_Response.pdf

This testing is being carried out to ensure “No child should be allowed to fall behind.”, but the child is being expected to read, write and count by the time they start primary school.

Meanwhile, anyone can test the teachers.

Drive past any primary school at 4 pm and see how many cars are left in the teachers car park.

“early childhood education”,
Incomuicardo,
The above is a term invented to deceive those administering public funding. The beneficiaries are half-baked academic "experts" in psychology & who received their credentials from just a half-baked University professors & the like.
It is all designed to create careers when in actual fact the outcome has already proven to be detrimental to our society. Looking at those youngsters now who have been at the receiving end of early childhood education we can clearly see the failure of this rort.
The correct term would be Early Childhood abuse & bureaucrat career advancement.

Brain development and learning are just not mutually comparable conditions! In fact, fully formed brains are less elastic!
If our most successful people are the ones paying the most tax and contributing the most to society, then there's a good argument for understanding the secrets of their success!
And if highly respected and cooperating surveys of actual data, "EVIDENCE", fully supports those conclusions, then that is an excellent argument, for putting some funding into early childhood learning, but only if the actual respected data, backs up the learned academic claims?
As opposed to the usual plethora of so called self taught education experts, who know all the reasons something can't be done, or what can be learned about teacher productivity, from empty school car-parks! Except say, garbage in garbage out!
The teachers I know, don't stop work, when the rubber hits the highway; but often burn the midnight oil, marking homework, setting up new assignments, and study options etc.
And it just doesn't have to be about more money, just using what we already have more intelligently, and based on need, not a universality, that treats the most advantaged, with the same level of untested funding, as that that ought to be reserved for need!
And as the data also shows; another impediment for later whole of life success!
The evident data just doesn't lie, as seems to be the only implausible argument, being mounted, in a spirited, flat earth defense of the current status quo, or the uniformed opinions of a few, who seem to think investing in our kids, is a waste of money?
When in fact, it's the best investment we can make, in our common futures.
Early ed also allows us to find and fix things like eye defects, and or dyslexia, before they impact negatively on the rest of academic life!
Moreover, there just isn't any reason why early learning and the social interaction that goes with it, can't be fun!
Rhrosty.

Well, when the criteria, compares apples with gooseberries, or trys to apply meat market principles to education, disappointment invariably follows!
Education is not a market, but a need or social service, that can only ever be seen as an investment in Australia's future!
Market principles results are bound to be disappointing, as is public funding for the richest schools/parents, who/what need to assume more responsibility!
If the age of entitlements is over, and funding just used need as the only viable signpost; then we could quite dramatically improve education outcomes and save some public money.
The only thing that is making the budget unworkable, is welfare for the rich!
Eliminate that, and the budget bottom line could be around 70 billions better off PA!
And a further 30% at least can be added to education outcomes, with total regional autonomy, and direct funding, that eliminates a veritable army of centralizing, collating, paper shuffling bureaucrats!
It's not just about throwing more money at underfunded education, but rather, eliminating all forms of official waste!?
And there'd be more money available for private education outcomes, if housing were once again affordable!
And to get there, we just might need to ask all pollies to divest themselves of all their property holdings!
That way, we would likely eliminate vested interest, that almost alone, makes our houses the most expensive in the english speaking world!
Rhrosty.

Rhrosty

Education is a giant bureaucracy that attempts to lay the blame on someone else whenever possible, while at all times asking for more and more money.

So secondary school teachers blame primary school teachers for poor student performance, and the primary school teachers then blame lack of so-called “early childhood education”.

But starting a child in “education” at an earlier and earlier age does not necessarily produce better educational outcomes for that child. It depends entirely on what goes on in that education institution.

“By the end of their sixth year in school, children whose preschool experiences had been academically directed earned significantly lower grades compared to children who had attended child-initiated preschool classes. Children's later school success appears to have been enhanced by more active, child-initiated early learning experiences. Their progress may have been slowed by overly academic preschool experiences that introduced formalized learning experiences too early for most children's developmental status.”

http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/marcon.html

So if the institution pressures a young child to sit still and learn, (when it only wants to run around and play), it can have a very detrimental effect on that child.

And the public has now sunk many billions into schemes wanted by teachers, that have not produced the slightest improvements in educational outcomes of students.

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if the institution pressures a young child to sit still and learn, (when it only wants to run around and play), it can have a very detrimental effect on that child.
Incomuicardo
I find it absolutely appalling that the abuse of children like that is permitted just so that their parents can earn more money to satisfy some lifestyle at the expense of the little ones.
As if there wasn't so much evidence already as to how this early childhood abuse is ruining the future of so many young people. The guilty abusers meanwhile are enjoying great retirement packages courtesy of insipid academic bureaucrats.
I wonder if our friend Foxy can provide one of her links on that.