The Office for Early Childhood Development was formed with a clear mandate: to create a fairer and better future for all children in South Australia. We’ll do this by responding to the full suite of recommendations of the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care. The Royal Commission provided a clear idea about the best way to deliver quality preschool programs 3- and 4-year-olds, and how families can be supported in the first 1000 days of their child’s life. It also made recommendations on how to improve access to out of school hours care, and the flow-on benefits of this for increasing workforce participation by parents. The Government of South Australia has committed to action on all recommendations, whether it be direct state investment and reform, identifying an alternative approach or advocating to the federal government for change. The OECD is South Australia’s early childhood development system steward. The Office partners with governments and departments, Aboriginal leaders, sector stakeholders, unions, the professions, parents and the community to create a better and fairer future for children across South Australia. This will include working collaboratively to mobilise long day care, early learning centres, and government services in every community to deliver a new offer of universal 3-year-old preschool. It will help put cutting-edge insights about supporting healthy child development into practice. The Office is working systemically and locally to create the quality preschool supply we need and to support service integration and connection for families.
