As part of the Sydney Conversations series of free public forums, Australia’s most influential players in childcare will debate Childcare - whose responsibility? in Sydney on Wednesday 9 August.

 

The event will explore ways of improving access to quality childcare, and features a panel of some of Australia's leading childcare providers, experts and commentators, including Fran Press, Charles Sturt University (CSU) senior childhood education lecturer.

 

Ms Press is the author of What about the kids? Policy directions for improving the experiences of infants and young children in a changing world. The policy paper, prepared for the NSW Commission for Children and Young People, the Queensland Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian, and the National Investment for the Early Years (NIFTeY) was released last month.

 

So who is responsible for childcare? According to Ms Press, “that depends on what country you live in. Certainly in some European countries, childcare, or early childhood education, is seen very much as a government investment. In Australia we have seen a shift to private investment in the past fifteen years or so.

 

“I think it should be a broader shared responsibility between families and communities, and one expression of the community responsibility is the provision of childcare services. If you are concerned about the daily experiences of children in childcare centres, and if you are concerned with the way childcare and pre-school does or does not enhance children’s outcomes then you have to talk about what the government responsibility is.”

 

At the moment, local, state and federal governments all have have some responsibilities in the childcare area, although the situation varies significantly from state to state.

 

“What we have now is a very fragmented and incoherent system, where children may go to long day care, either family day care or centre based care, they may then go to a pre-school, then they might go into a school which may or may not have a relationship with the pre-school or childcare centre,” Ms Press said.

 

“Theoretically, the State governments are responsible for pre-school education, but only some States have universal pre-school for children before they reach school. At least with the Australian system you do have some kind of commitment, although it does vary across the country.”

 

The panel at the Sydney Conversations event includes Gillian Calvert, NSW Commissioner for Children & Young People, Eddie Groves, Global CEO of ABC Learning Centres, Jackie Kelly, Federal Member for Lindsay and Liberal Party childcare advocate, Tanya Plibersek, Federal Member for Sydney & Opposition Childcare Spokeswoman, and Sue Dunlevy from The Daily Telegraph.