EARLY YEARS RECOGNISED AND HIGHLIGHTED IN AUSTRALIA’S FIRST NATIONAL WELLBEING FRAMEWORK
21 July 2023 – Minderoo Foundation’s Thrive by Five campaign has today welcomed the recognition of early childhood education as a central part of Australia’s first national wellbeing framework.
Measuring What Matters will track national performance on 50 indicators focussed on what matters most to Australians, their wellbeing, the economy and society.
The inaugural report includes a spotlight section with an exploration of what matters to children’s wellbeing, particularly in the early years.
Minderoo’s Jay Weatherill said: “In the first five years of a child’s life, their brain will grow to 90 per cent of adult brain size, making it a critical time for personal development and wellbeing.
“The Measuring What Matters wellbeing framework incorporates a spotlight on early years after submissions affirmed that early childhood outcomes play an important role in driving wellbeing over an individual’s lifetime and across generations.
“Every Australian child must have guaranteed access to affordable, high-quality early childhood education and care, regardless of where they live across the nation or their family circumstances.
“The Federal Government can help make early learning a national priority by working with states and territories on an early childhood education and care guarantee for every Australian child and developing a share vision for better outcomes.
“The National Early Years Strategy due at the end of the year can help reshape the future for Australian children and through them, secure a better future for our nation.
“We owe it to our children to be ambitious and help lay the foundation for a new approach to the early years,” Mr Weatherill said.
Editor’s note: Early Years spotlight begins on Page 90 of report
