The context for Australian children and families matters when it comes to their participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Children and families enter ECEC from a variety of communities, backgrounds and circumstances, and with different strengths and needs. This means that services need to respond and adapt to provide tailored support when it’s needed. When done well, this ensures all children can access and benefit from high-quality early learning.
A new project supported by the Investment Dialogue for Australia’s Children (IDAC) is exploring how the system can better respond to this diversity.
Funded by the Paul Ramsay Foundation and Minderoo Foundation, and led by The Front Project, this project will explore how the Australian long day care system could better support equitable access and outcomes for all children.
Equity mechanisms recognise that some children require tailored approaches (enabled by resources such as allied health, professional development, outreach and learning supports) to achieve the same outcomes as their peers. Similar approaches exist in other parts of the education system, which means there is an opportunity to consider how they could be applied effectively in early childhood settings.
This project aims to take that opportunity.
The work focuses on how supports and resources can be allocated and delivered across the system, and how these approaches can better reflect the different needs of children, services and communities. It will also explore how supports can contribute to both immediate outcomes for children and longer-term capability building and quality improvement across the sector.
The IDAC partnership has enabled early collaboration between the project and the Commonwealth Department of Education. This helps ensure the work is aligned to policy priorities, while remaining grounded in evidence and shared learning.
The project will draw on lessons from other systems, including schooling and state-based early childhood models, to understand what works and why.
Ultimately, the goal is to strengthen the way the ECEC system supports equitable access and outcomes for children, while providing governments and providers with practical, evidence-informed options.
Scoping is underway through the first half of 2026, with findings – in the form of a report- expected to inform future policy discussions later in the year. Any inquiries, please reach out to Gabi Burman (gburman@thefrontproject.org.au).
Quotes attributable to Rosie Bridge, Investment Dialogue for Australia’s Children
“This work is about bringing partners together to explore how the system can better respond to the different needs of children and communities. IDAC’s role is to help connect that effort, support shared learning, and ensure the insights can inform future policy and investment decisions.”
Quotes attributable to The Front Project
“We know that children don’t all start from the same place. This project is an opportunity to examine how resourcing approaches can better reflect those contexts, drawing on evidence from across systems and applying it to early childhood education in a practical way.”
Department of Education
“The Department is contributing to discussions to strengthen the evidence base on equity in early childhood education and care. This work will generate insights to inform future policy development and support ongoing efforts to improve outcomes for children and communities with diverse needs.”
