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You won’t meet someone more passionate about early childhood education than Dr. Gerardine Neylon, the Faculty of Education’s Master of Teaching Early Childhood Coordinator.

Hailing from West Ireland, Gerardine moved to Perth with her husband to join us here at UWA in 2014. An expert in early childhood education and care, she’s seen a lot of changes in her 30 years working in the field.

“When I began studying in Dublin in the 1980s, we underestimated infant’s potential as learners,” she said.

“We now know that right from birth, children are strong, confident learners – protagonists in their own learning.”

Gerardine has led the adjustment of UWA’s Master of Teaching Early Childhood to focus on training educators how to teach children during the critical years between birth and three.

“Our course crosses the divide between care and education,” she said. “We understand that infancy is just as vital as the preschool years in terms of impact of education. Children are just as active in their learning. They learn through relationships.”

“Our course promotes relational pedagogy,” she said. “We emphasise the importance of relationships with children and their family.”

At the recent Early Childhood Education and Care Conference held at the Crown Perth, Gerardine outlined a change to Australia’s early childhood education policies that she’d like to see.

In Australia, early childcare policy is implemented to encourage more parents back into the workforce rather than as a “social good”.

“Parents are divided into consumers of childcare for those working, and children of the poor are subsidised through various government schemes.  Australian childcare is delivered not as a public good, but so that the management and financial viability of centres is governed by market forces,” said Gerardine.

“Services are spread across a mix of the profit and not-for-profit sector where current pre-school fees range between $95 a day to $160 a day. Such disparities not only make early childhood education unattainable by some families, but also create inconsistency in the quality of teaching and care across our centres.”

It’s an issue that Gerardine feels acutely. Not only as someone who has spent their career assessing the impact of early childhood education, but also as a new grandmother to seven-week-old Myles – named after Jazz legend Miles Davis.

Sweden is an exemplar of how early childhood education and care can be implemented successfully.  Swedish EDUCARE demonstrates a respectful approach to young children. The success of the system rests on a firm belief in the right of every child to be given the very best care, upbringing and education that the nation can offer.

According to recent studies 83% of Swedish children aged one to six are in pre-school, and 95% of three to six year olds are in pre-school. Wider economic benefits have also been shown: research  indicates that when children have access to quality early childhood education they can expect better school success, a decreased crime rate, less substance abuse and increased long-term employment – all positives for a society.

What then are the long-term policy solutions that could be applied in Australia?  Gerardine believes it should begin with the professionalisation of early year’s graduate workforce.

“Direct government funding for employment of early years staff in line with teacher pay rates, regardless of age of children of setting, is necessary.  This is crucial if quality childcare for all Australian children can be realised.”