Mawsouth,

I spend a fair amount of time in Finland and regularily chat with a primary school teacher there (wife of a collegue) and her opinion and a number of her collegues is that pre school education is essential for cognitive development, and that this is one of the cornerstones of the Finnish success. (I will be flying there this Saturday)

Also:

http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2006/12/07/benefits-of-early-learning-programs/

OTTAWA — Preschool is better preparation for kindergarten than the attention of a stay-at-home-mom, new research shows.

The national study in the United States found children who attend preschool — centre-based care — enter public schools with higher levels of academic skills than their peers who experienced other types of child care, including stay-at-home parent, relative care and babysitters."

“Whether their peers overcome their early deficits, or whether preschool attendees maintain their advantage, is in part a function of the subsequent classroom environment,” concludes the study.

In short, the advantage of pre school could be overcome by grade 3 if:
"experiencing class sizes of 20 youngsters or less and enjoying levels of reading instruction in excess of the average of 61 to 90 minutes a day. By contrast, a marked advantage persists among their counterparts in low instruction or large classes,” the study found.

Mr Cullen convieniently overlooked this proviso.

As there are few schools in Aus (except private schools) that meet this criteria, I would suggest that preschool and Kindy are of great benefit.

Mawsouth,

The depression prevention program targeted at children from the ages of one to seven years-old was announced by the Federal Government in October, 2009. It was announced by Health Minister, Nicola Roxon. Jeff Kennett was also involved in the launch, and it was widely covered in both the print and electronic media.

www.watoday.com.au/breaking-news-national/preschoolers-get-antidepression-skills-20091005-gixj.html