Legislation And Legal Enforcement Of Early Childhood Education And Care In Australia

Most of the developed countries have increased their support and investment on early childhood education and care since 2000. What’s more, developing countries have begun to regulate their preschool education industry by offering official management and financial support. They have realized that the popularity and quality of early childhood education and care are also important parts of their national power. It has become a trend to get preschool education involved in the public service system.All kinds of teaching methods have been formed on the basis of different theories of early childhood education and care. The cognitive development theory of Jean Piaget has been popular among western preschool industry. For example, the High/ Scope program has been designed under the guidance of this theory. This program, which aims to encourage children to feel involved in their learning activities, has been still used in western countries. People have begun to paid attention to the effects of culture on early preschool education since late 1980s. The condition and development of early childhood education and care has been considered in the aspect of cultural background. Due to the unique cultural background, Australian early childhood education and care services value the communications with children’s communities and families. In Britain, parents would be guided to take part in children’s activities.Thanks to the support of Australian governments, the early childhood education and care has developed a lot in recent years. The federal government promised to commit 970 million dollars to states and territories from 2008 to 2013 for the popularity of high quality preschool education; another 115 million dollars would be devoted to the education and training of preschool teachers. Besides the financial support, Australia governments have also set out a series of laws and regulations-National Early Childhood Development Strategy- Investing in the Early Years, National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care, Belong, Being and Becoming:The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia, and National Framework for Professional Standards for Teaching. The series of laws and regulations have regulated and contributed the development of early childhood education and care in Australia. And the establishment of National Childcare Accreditation (NCAC) and Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) has also brought positive effects on Australian children’s growth.The early childhood education and care services in Australia are relatively comprehensive with the help of governments. It is worthy to learn from Australia in this field. This thesis would research the conditions of Australian early childhood education and care in the aspect of legislation and legal enforcement.