Despite being a relatively wealthy country, Australia is ranked just 28th in this Index. This is at least partly because the provision and management of preschools has historically been delegated to the state and territory governments, making it harder to achieve a consistent approach. But major reforms are now underway, with all governments committed to a system of universal access to preschool education. Instead of following nine different sets of regulations, the eight states and territories, as well as the federal government, will now adhere to a single set of regulations and a new National Quality Standard: these became effective from the start of 2012.

“It’s a mixed market, and every approved service gets tax dollars, but these are all now subject to seven quality standards,” notes Professor Collette Tayler, chair of early childhood education and care at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. “It’s the first time we’ve set a standard in this way, one that is higher than the field at large is currently practising.”

By the end of 2013, all four-year-old children will have access to 15 hours per week of preschool, for 40 weeks of the year before they attend school. The goal is for each preschool programme to be delivered by a teacher with four years of university training, although this will take time to be phased in. Some services will be delivered in integrated child and family programmes. These will often be set up in areas with a bigger proportion of disadvantaged families. This is seen as “a way of providing access to multiple services, to make that more accessible to families who fall through the hoops,” says Frances Press, a senior lecturer on early childhood policy and sociology at Charles Sturt University in Australia.

Part of the new framework also includes a commitment to increasing access for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, with the target of ensuring all four-year-old indigenous children in remote communities have access by the end of 2013.