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Thursday, 15 September 2011
Page: 10298

Early Childhood Learning

Debate resumed on the motion:

That this House:

(1) affirms its strong support for all forms of early childhood learning a nd recognises the importance of pre-school on the development of children and as a foundation for their future education;

(2) notes that the Gillard Government has mandated that ‘four-year-old kindergartens’ provide at least 15 hours per week of instruction by a university-trained teacher by 2013 under its 'Universal Access' policy;

(3) notes that the Gillard Government has not considered the consequ ences of its 'Universal Access' policy on Victorian kindergartens where ‘three-year-old kindergarten’ is more commonly offered than by other jurisdictions;

(4) notes that the consequence of 'Universal Access' on Victoria's kin dergartens is that many will no longer be able to offer ‘three-year-old kindergarten’ programs because facilities are often shared between three and ‘four-year-old kindergarten’ programs;

(5) acknowledges that this policy will effectively remove the choic e for many Victorian parents of sending their three-year-old children to kindergarten;

(6) notes that some rural kindergartens could face the risk of closure because there is a shortage of qualified teachers in rural areas, and due to the increase in mandated hours, many rural kindergartens will no longer be able to share teachers;

(7) notes that warnings of this imminent crisis for Victoria's kindergartens have been given directly to the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth by the Municipal Association of Victoria, parent groups, kindergarten operators and parliamentarians; and

(8) calls on the Government to:

(a) provide flexibility for kindergarten operators to deliver kindergarten servic es according to the needs of their own communities and in line with local infrastructure and staffing capacity; or

(b) at the very least, provide flexibility on the start date for t he implementation of 'Universal Access'.