Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:12:01 GMT

Two years’ preschool reduces failure. Providing two years of quality preschool education, fast becoming the norm in many European countries, can almost halve the number of children at risk of failing later on at school. But Australia’s fragmented childcare policy, which differs from state to state and is beset by problems of carer supply and quality, is leaving the nation dangerously exposed to social and economic costs down the track. So warned Frances Press, lecturer in Early Childhood Education and Care at Charles Sturt University, who yesterday told a social welfare conference in Sydney that all three tiers of government should be developing a better model for children before they reach school. [Recent Items]