That universal three-year-old preschool be delivered through the following mix of provision from 2026:

• Three-year-olds already in long day care receive their preschool through their existing setting.
• Three-year-olds who are not in long day care, or who are in a long day care that is not offering a preschool program, are able to access preschool in government preschool.
• In areas of high developmental vulnerability, there is place-based commissioning of integrated service hubs.

In the first instance, the State Government should only offer places in government preschools to those children who are not currently attending early childhood education and care (or whose service is unable to offer a preschool program, for example because they do not have an early childhood teacher on site), or to those children requiring additional hours of support (per Recommendation 25).

The State Government may wish to review this mix of provision once universal coverage is achieved, early childhood teacher workforce shortages have been ameliorated, Commonwealth Government child care funding arrangements are known and government preschools have implemented models providing more flexible hours of access.

This review could consider whether to phase in a universal guarantee of a place for every three-year-old in a government preschool, similar to that which exists at age four.

Delivery of universal three-year-old preschool should be through locally based implementation teams. These teams will:

• work with local government, communities and non-government social service providers to commission 1000 new places for highly vulnerable children
• work with long day care and government preschools to ensure cost-efficient creation of new spaces in areas of undersupply (for example, through minor capital works)
• work with long day care and government preschools to consider local workforce solutions
• ensure funding provided for additional services and connection to the system in long day care is used effectively, and that the State Government gets the value of this investment
• translate the evidence of best practice in preschool delivery, as it emerges, through the entire early childhood education and care sector.

That the State Government provides access to the following supports and resources in all settings that deliver preschool:

• evidence-based tools for improving pedagogical approaches
• curriculum material for use in three and four-year-old preschool, noting that engagement with the resources should be part of the State Government’s funding agreement with non-government services
• professional learning for early childhood educators and teachers on early child development
• funding to support access to professional learning (including release time) and sufficient planning time for early childhood teachers.

That, noting the Commission’s recommended preschool delivery model does not generally provide parents with children in long day care with the choice of government preschool at age three, and to ensure fairness between families, the State Government should consider the question of fee relief for three-year-old preschool as follows:

a. The State Government should be proactive in the national policy discussions around early education and care and strive to get a national settlement of roles and responsibilities which has affordability issues, including for preschool, as the preserve of the Commonwealth.

b. When the Commonwealth policy settings are known, which is anticipated to be prior to the commencement of three-year-old preschool in 2026, the State Government should consider whether any form of broad fee relief for families accessing preschool other than in government preschools is appropriate.

c. As a design principle for any broad fee relief scheme, the Commission recommends the State Government ensures families with more financial resources and who are accessing higher fee services do not benefit disproportionately.

d. Irrespective of the answer the State Government reaches under (b) above, a targeted fee relief scheme should be available for disadvantaged families or families facing a sudden change in financial circumstances in all preschool settings.

e. As part of its consideration of this targeted fee relief scheme, the State Government should review fee arrangements for government preschools for three and four year olds to ensure that services are not disadvantaged by non-payment of fees by families.

a. That the State Government consults with providers across all sectors to develop a new funding model for preschool, covering both three and four-year-old delivery and government and non-government settings.

The new funding model will support the increased expectation of, and support for, preschool outlined by this Royal Commission. The new funding model for both three and four-year-olds should include:

• funding that is sufficient to meet professional learning and release time requirements for early childhood teachers
• loadings (or equivalent service provision) for the provision of layered supports to children in the service who are likely to be developmentally vulnerable and/or need additional support
• support for outreach and indirect cost reduction in areas of high vulnerability (see Recommendation 20).

b. As part of commissioning new integrated services, the State Government should consult with providers on a resourcing model to ensure adequate funding is provided for their successful operation.

Note that these services will not necessarily be led by the South Australian Department for Education.

a. That, to support universal participation in preschool, the State Government should invest in the following in areas of high vulnerability:

• support to services for indirect cost reduction (for example, transport), where required, to enable economically disadvantaged families to have their child attend
• investment in services to support community outreach in areas with a lack of connection to early childhood education, as well as support communication.

(To be clear, this investment should include government preschools, as well as preschool programs delivered in long day care settings and non-government preschools provided they meet the first three conditions specified in Recommendation 21. Note that this is in addition to fee relief recommended in Recommendation 18(d).)

In addition:

b. The Office for the Early Years should conduct an annual reconciliation of enrolment data from all available sources (including Commonwealth Child Care Subsidy records referred to in Recommendation 5) against other State Government records to identify where children have not enrolled in preschool. This data should be published at a regionally disaggregated level to enable local planning and community engagement.

c. The Department for Education should review its policy approach to redirecting enrolments in areas of socioeconomic disadvantage when a local government preschool is at capacity to ensure the alternate options identified can be accessed by families.

That the State Government support for additional capacity through investment in capital works (minor or major) be predicated on the nature and quality of the early childhood education and care system it envisions. Investment in additional capacity should prioritise services that:

• meet or exceed National Quality Standard ratings
• can demonstrate investment in workforce (for example, through staff retention / low turnover, support for quality professional learning)
• have a demonstrated ability to enrol children from hard-to-reach or vulnerable communities
• are operated by a community management committee, making it less likely the service has been able to access capital.

That the State Government commits $14 million per year to an Early Childhood Workforce Fund.

• The purpose of the Fund will be to increase the supply of the early childhood education and care workforce, with a particular priority on ensuring sufficient workforce for the delivery of universal three-year-old preschool.

While the Fund is intended to be ongoing, the annual allocation will be subject to review after four years of operation.

That the State Government establishes the role of Early Childhood Workforce Coordinator General in the Office for the Early Years to:

a. work across the sector and relevant government agencies and statutory authorities to undertake early childhood sector-wide workforce planning, including taking note of the current workforce profile and risks, including:

• regularly compiling data from the Teachers Registration Board and the Education Standards Board to understand the distribution of less than fully qualified teachers across all services

b. drive workforce-related recommendations arising from this Royal Commission, notably in relation to the registration of specialist birth-to-5 early childhood teachers with degrees accredited by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) (see Recommendation 24)

c. drive delivery of initiatives funded from the Early Childhood Workforce Fund, including

• working with the sector and universities around scholarships, pathways, accelerated pathways and paid placements
• working with the sector and vocational education and training (VET) providers,
  in particular TAFE and technical colleges, around fee-free early childhood qualifications and paid placements
• working with the sector on initiatives to support local workforce attraction (for example, in disadvantaged or regional communities) and innovative models of soft entry into workforce and pathway development (for example, those being trialled by Gowrie SA or developed by the Front Project)
• publicly report progress against delivery of workforce supply targets in relation to three year old preschool.

In line with the Royal Commission’s vision for South Australia as being at the forefront of developing ideas about what works, it is intended that the Early Childhood Workforce Fund will support trialling and monitoring different approaches, with a view to ensuring the most effective and efficient suite of activities.

a. That the State Government promptly amends the Teachers Registration and Standards Regulations 2021 to allow teachers to be registered as early childhood teachers if they hold a degree certified by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA).

That the registration of teachers holding an ACECQA accredited three-year birth-to-5 degree will be held on a separate register from teachers holding a four-year Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) accredited qualification.

b. The State Government should consider commissioning an independent early childhood expert review comparing the ACECQA accreditation standards with the AITSL standards, in light of best practice in early childhood education.

That, in the short-to-medium term, the State Government provides up to 30 hours of preschool in the two years before school to around 1000 children in each year level who are identified as being at greatest risk of developmental vulnerability.

Eligible children should be identified using the best available insights from analysis of linked datasets. In terms of the location in which they receive their entitlement:

• Primarily, these children should receive their additional hours through newly commissioned integrated service hubs, per Recommendation 15. Locations for these centres should be chosen on the basis of high developmental vulnerability to ensure strong coverage of the eligible children.
• Eligible children could also receive their additional hours through utilising spare capacity in government preschools.
• Eligible children could also receive their additional hours through preschool programs offered in long day care or non-government preschool services.
• In any event, the State Government should ensure that cost is not a barrier to
  participation in the additional hours.

That, as part of the roll out of additional hours to children at highest risk of developmental
vulnerability, the State Government should continue to refine the data infrastructure and
analysis to target additional supports to children at greatest risk of developmental vulnerability.

That, over the longer term, the State Government expand eligibility for additional hours of preschool to a greater number of children at high risk of developmental vulnerability.

This should be considered as part of a suite of strategies to meet a long-term aspiration of reducing the rate of South Australian children entering school developmentally vulnerable to 15 per cent in twenty years (per Recommendation 1).

That the State Government commits to co-designing and rigorously evaluating a small number of alternative early learning model for three-year-olds in specific communities where there are very low rates of enrolment in a traditional four-year-old preschool program.

Noting this may change with the national settlement regarding responsibilities, these programs should be funded at a rate of approximately $11,500 per child (indexed and based on current per child cost of providing government preschool).

Rigorous evaluation is required, and models and service providers may change with evaluation. However, ongoing funding should be allocated to the overall program on the basis of an assumed rate of uptake in specified communities.

These programs should be eligible for capital investment in line with established criteria for investment in early childhood education and care services.

Among others, the following elements should be considered in the co-design process:

• that programs are designed with input from expert early childhood teachers
• that programs are delivered by organisations with existing connections to the community
• that programs include a workforce drawn from the local community, without requiring formal qualifications on entry to the workforce (though people may be supported to engage in a formal pathway over time)
• that programs include incentives to families to support their engagement
• that programs support connection to the broader education system, including schools.

Communities should be selected on the basis of very low rates of access to traditional four year old preschool programs.

Children who are enrolled in these programs would be eligible to transition to a traditional four-year-old preschool program or continue in this program.

That the State Government takes an active role in connecting the families of children at child protection risk to early childhood education and care.

This could include:

• developing referral pathways for children identified as being at risk, including from the Child and Family Support System, as well as other early years service providers who identify children in particular need
• identifying appropriate early childhood education and care services for at-risk children in a particular area, and where no appropriate services exist with the capability to work with at-risk children, working intensively with local providers to build capability
• progressively introducing funding for the costs of engagement, outreach and additional supports (as recommended for preschool in the Interim Report) for enrolled children who are identified as being at risk.

That the State Government seeks to actively shape the emerging national approach on preschool outcomes measurement, including, in accordance with the vision of South Australia being a leader in early childhood education research, volunteering to be involved in any trials or pilots.

The State Government should advocate that the measurement approach supports two objectives:

• understanding and gathering information on early childhood investments at a population level; and
• supporting teachers and services to ensure they can support a child’s progress and monitor quality improvement of their practice.

The State Government should also require that the results of outcomes measurement are not published at a service level and should not be used in funding or regulatory decision making processes relating to individual services. Objective quality measures (such as the National Quality Standard) should be published and used for the purpose of community choice and for government decision-making.

The State Government should press for nationally agreed outcomes measurement being
available in time to be embedded in the roll out of three-year-old preschool from 2026.

If intergovernmental processes do not acquit the above outcomes, South Australia should design and adopt is own preschool outcomes measures.

a. That the Office for the Early Years introduces additional supports for services providing preschool programs that are Working Towards the National Quality Standard. This should include:

• both government and non-government services
• working with the Education Standards Board to ensure that action is taken for consistent non-achievement of the National Quality Standard by services providing preschool programs.

b. That the Department for Education introduces additional supports for out of school hours care (OSHC) services on government sites, including third-party providers, who are Working Towards. This should include:

• working with the Education Standards Board to ensure that action is taken for consistent non-achievement of the National Quality Standard by government OSHC services.

That in the period prior to universal achievement of three-year-old preschool, while teacher workforce supply is being developed, the State Government trials different configurations of early learning programs delivered by diploma qualified educators (for example, with practice supervision, additional professional learning, different ratios, coaching), reviews the quality of practice and rigorously assesses the different outcomes.

Such trials should only be undertaken in services that have not been able to secure an early childhood teacher for delivery of the program.

That the State Government listens to the Aboriginal community, including through South Australia’s First Nations Voice to Parliament, the South Australian Aboriginal Education and Training Consultative Council, the South Australian Aboriginal Community Controlled
Organisation Network and other relevant bodies, about how to ensure that Aboriginal children retain and increase the benefits from three-year-old preschool.

The State Government should ensure that any co-design of preschool for three-year-old Aboriginal children is based on an ongoing guaranteed funding commitment equivalent to that which supports preschool entry for Aboriginal three-year-old children (currently around $10.8 million per annum).

This commitment would be over and above other State Government funding arrangements for three-year-old preschool and any community-specific early learning models that are established.