Most existing kindergarten programs in Victoria are offered for 15 hours, and while the state government subsidises it for all children, it is only free or low-cost for some underprivileged groups.I’m from NSW, where kindergarten is part of school
From next year, all NSW families will be eligible for up to $4,000 a year in fee relief for three-to five-year-olds attending a community or mobile preschool; up to $2,000 a year for four- and five-year-olds attending preschool in a long-daycare setting; and the equivalent of five days a fortnight of affordable preschool fee relief for all children in Department of Education preschools.Yes. In Victoria, all three-year-olds have access to at least five hours of government-funded kinder each week.
“The issue will be just making sure that there are those spaces available for the children and the infrastructure that we can provide in that space as well,” said Hedger. “If we’re doubling the amount of spaces for children then we’re really having to double the infrastructure, the buildings and the educators.”
“I’m not pretending for a minute that it won’t come with challenges in terms of finding that workforce in a very tight labor market,” Stitt said. “But we will do that work with the sector and we will come up with incentives to make sure that we attract and retain our amazing workforce.”Andrews and Perrottet said there were several reasons, the most important being it will set children up for school and give them the best start for life.
Andrews said there are about 27,000 women in the state who aren’t working because they can’t afford childcare.According to research from the Grattan Institute, full-time net childcare costs are nearly 20% of the household income for the typical Australian family – higher than the average of about 10% for OECD nations.Campaign group Thrive By Five, who Andrews credited with being instrumental in developing the policy, described the announcement as “life changing for children, women and families”.
Source: Education Headlines (educationheadlines.net)