PARENTS who keep their children out of valuable early childhood education programs often do so because they see parental care as better.
This suggests evidence showing the benefits of preschool for a child?s development may not be getting through to families.
The Australian Institute of Family Studies is looking at why there are barriers to accessing early childhood education for some families, before a government promise for universal preschool access for four-year-olds by next year.
After comparing results from existing government data on early childhood education, AIFS senior research fellow Jennifer Baxter said more work was needed on why families were not using preschool to ensure universal access was delivered as planned.
?Parents often tell us the children?s non-attendance is related to the fact that there?s a parent at home,? she said.
?They say the child didn?t need it, there?s a parent at home, or they tell us something about prioritising parent care for the children.
?Certainly some families are telling us there are issues around access and affordability or appropriateness of the service (but) they are mentioned by a small minority.?
Dr Baxter and fellow researcher Kelly Hand presented their work at an AIFS conference in Melbourne last week, ahead of a full report for the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations later this year.
Research has shown that participating in a quality early childhood education program has ongoing benefits for children, especially those from more disadvantaged backgrounds.
All states and territories are working towards giving children 15 hours a week of early childhood education, taught by a degree-qualified teacher, for 40 weeks in the year before they start school.
Dr Baxter said data from surveys taken in 2008 and 2009 showed indigenous children and children whose families were not native English-speakers were less likely to use preschool programs, as were those in outer regional, rural and socio-economically disadvantaged areas.
?We need to know why do we see these relationships and what can we actually do about it to help families out so children are accessing early childhood education,? Dr Baxter said.
?It?s the truly disadvantaged families that are likely to be the ones we are talking about here, where the children are missing out on early childhood education.?
Household income was not found to be significant, but children were more likely to be enrolled if their parents had achieved a high level of education, or if their primary carer was employed.
Dr Baxter and Ms Hand will soon start a fieldwork component of their study, asking families in more detail their reasons for keeping children out of early childhood education.
Data from the Australian Early Development Index, taken in 2009, found 11 per cent of children were not in preschool or long daycare, compared with 7 per cent from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/parents-blind-to-learning-benefits/story-fn59nlz9-1226438086845
Source: http://socato.org/?p=12794
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