Legislative Council Tuesday 21 May, 2018
Ms FORREST question to the LEADER of the GOVERNMENT in the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Mrs HISCUTT
With regard to the Working Together for Three Year Olds (WT3) initiative:
1. When did the first group of children commence as part of the initiative?
2. How many placements are available across each of the pilot sites, listed by site?
3. How many children are currently enrolled in the initiative across all pilot sites?
4. When does the Government plan to evaluate the initiative?
5. Has the integration of Child Care Subsidy been factored into the pilot; and a. if so has it enabled children to attend more days?
6. What eligibility criteria is being used for children/families to access care during the pilot?
7. Can children currently enrolled in childcare be included in the initiative; and if currently enrolled children are excluded from the initiative, does the Minister believe this limits equitable access to the benefits of the initiative?
ANSWER:
1. Enrolments in the WT3 pilot began in March 2019.
2. There are five pilot locations with a total of 55 places being made available to eligible three year olds. The following figures are accurate as at 10 May 2019.
Devonport
Site/Early Learning Centre Available Placements Enrolments Pipeline
Drew Street - Devonport Child Care Centres 5 5 Full
Devonport Child Care Centres -Malangenna 5 5 Full
1912 5 5 Full
Glenorchy
Site/Early Learning Centre Available Placements Enrolments Pipeline
Goodstart Claremont 5 5 Full
Discovery Early Learning Centres (Illara Preschool and Dominic) 5 2 2
Glenorchy Council – Glenorchy Child Care Connections - Benjafield 5 4 1
Launceston
Site/Early Learning Centre Available Placements Enrolments Pipeline
Lady Gowrie Alanvale 10 8 2
Kingborough
Site/Early Learning Centre Available Placements Enrolments Pipeline
Adventure Patch Mountain View 5 3 TBC
Goodstart Blackmans Bay 5 1 2
Derwent Valley
Site/Early Learning Centre Available Placements Enrolments Pipeline
Derwent Valley Council – Derwent Valley Children’s Centre 5 5 Full
3. Please see table above.
4. The WT3 pilot will be evaluated in July-August 2019 by an independent agency, Clear Horizon.
Additionally, a more in-depth evaluation of the families’ experience will be undertaken by TasCOSS at the end of 2019 and 2020 with monthly qualitative interviews underway.
5. The children currently enrolled in the WT3 pilot are not yet accessing the Child Care Subsidy.
The Department of Education is working with Deloitte Access Economics to consider how to best integrate the federal and state funding to achieve optimum outcomes.
6. The eligibility criteria for the pilot is:
Children who are three years old and:
• whose parents/guardians are Health Care Card Holders
• who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• who are receiving support or intervention from the Child Safety Service;
• meeting at least two criteria from Parental Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) assessment.
7. The goal for the 2019 Pilot is to engage eligible three year olds who have had no opportunity to participate in an early learning pre-school experience previously.
As there are only 55 places available this year, prioritisation was based on this goal. The rationale is to test if the approaches being used are successful in engaging families with no prior relationship with an Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) provider.
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