By Derek Schlennstedt
Three-year-old Kindergartens are under threat of becoming too expensive for parents due to a lack of government funding.
Currently there is no government funding for preschool programs for three-year-olds in Victoria and Teachers are saying the costs are too restrictive for many families.
According to Cockatoo Kindergarten teacher, Gill Birkett, the lack of funding is costly for both the parents and the kinder.
“We have a four-year-old program of 15 hours per week and a three-year-old program of three hours per week because it’s all we can afford to do when it’s not funded by anybody but the fees that the parents pay,” Mr Birkett said.
“It ends up becoming too costly for families, so 75 per cent of kids end up missing out.”
In a review commissioned by state and territory governments this year, it was identified that quality early childhood education makes a significant contribution to achieving educational excellence in schools.
The Lifting Our Game report found the case for three-year-old kinder “compelling”, and that it would “make a real and cost-effective contribution to improving school outcomes in Australia”.
Jason Wood visited the Cockatoo Kindergarten on 31 July to speak with the kindergarten about their concerns.
The Federal government have since committed around $870 million for preschools in 2018 and 2019, though this does not include three-year-old kinder.
