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Children who spend 40 hours a week in childcare face a higher risk of struggling with social competence and emotional maturity, a major study tracking the outcomes of 274,000 Australian children from birth to their first year at school has found.
Attending a centre rated as lower quality was also linked with an increased likelihood of making a child developmentally vulnerable in at least one of five domains, which include physical health, language and cognitive skills.
It comes as the Albanese government has made expanding financial support for childcare a signature policy, with households earning less than $535,000 now eligible for 72 hours of subsidised childcare per fortnight.
Subsidised childcare is one of the fastest-growing costs to the federal budget, costing taxpayers about $4 billion in the three months to the end of December.
The opposition is canvassing alternatives to subsidised childcare, including vouchers that could be used for nannies or family members instead of a centre-based subsidy, income splitting, extending paid parental leave and tax breaks.
The federal Department of Education study released last December used childcare, census, tax, health and welfare data, and childcare financial data. That was matched against survey data collected by primary school teachers across the five domains.
The research followed children from their early childhood years until 2018, their first year of full-time school, finding as children spent more than 30 hours in child care, their rates of developmental vulnerability increased. Developmental vulnerability can predict worse longer term mental health, wellbeing and academic outcomes.
“Children who were enrolled for more than 40 hours per week had the highest rates of developmental vulnerabilities,” the report said.
While longer hours in childcare were associated with elevated social and emotional risk, attendance was beneficial when it came to language, cognitive skills, communication skills and general knowledge.
The five early childhood development domains
Physical health and wellbeing — Children’s physical readiness for the school day, physical independence and gross and fine motor skills
Social competence — Children’s overall social competence, responsibility and respect, approach to learning and readiness to explore new things
Emotional maturity — Children’s pro-social and helping behaviours and absence of anxious and fearful behaviour, aggressive behaviour and hyperactivity and inattention
Language and cognitive skills (school-based) — Children’s basic literacy, advanced literacy, basic numeracy, and interest in literacy, numeracy and memory
Communication skills and general knowledge — Children’s communication skills and general knowledge based on broad developmental competencies and skills
Blaise Joseph, director of the education program at conservative think tank The Centre for Independent Studies, said while research was consistently positive about preschool, this report showed the benefits of formal childcare were not uniform for all children of all ages and backgrounds.
“Given the lack of a consistent educational benefit of formal childcare, the growing cost to both parents and taxpayers, and the fact that formal childcare simply doesn’t work for many parents, we really should be open to alternative policy options that might better support children in informal care too,” he said.
Professor Karen Thorpe, from the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland, said the evidence was poor when it came to policies, such as using nannies.
“A prior trial under the Abbott government in Australia was unsuccessful,” she said.
While she said the government report was an important study, she urged caution about the results.
“My take is not necessarily to keep children home – remember cognitive and language outcomes were more positive for children in childcare. I would urge that we first look at the quality of provision for childcare from birth to three,” she said.
The number of children in childcare fell for the first time since the pandemic at the end of last year, after a litany of horrific abuse allegations were revealed.
A 2024 Productivity Commission report found early childhood education and care can improve outcomes for children, particularly those experiencing disadvantage and vulnerability, throughout their lives and deliver net community benefit.
This study mirrored those findings, with formal child care associated with higher rates of being developmentally on track in all domains for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children from a single parent household and those with a language background other than English.
Higher quality services reduced the average child’s risk of developmental vulnerability by around six per cent, compared to attending lower quality care, the report found.
Australian childcare centres are rated as either “excellent”, “exceeding”, “meeting the standard”, “working towards” or “significant improvement required”.
After adjusting for other factors, the research found children not attending formal childcare, on average had a lower risk of being developmentally vulnerable in one or more domains, compared to a child who attended a centre with an “at standard” quality rating.
The report underscored the benefits of preschool, with those who attended more likely to be developmentally on track in all domains, when compared with children who attended childcare in the same quality category.
Advocacy group The Parenthood’s Georgie Dent called for a renewed focus on boosting quality in the sector because for many families, reducing hours was not a realistic option.
“When a parent is blocked from the workforce, there is a much higher risk of financial insecurity … and when mothers are engaged in work, it is often very good for their mental wellbeing,” she said.
Dr Caroline Croser-Barlow, chief executive of The Front Project, said poorer social and emotional outcomes may be linked with high staff turnover, as children’s brain development thrived on strong “serve and return” relationships with adults to whom they had a secure sense of attachment.
“When a child is doing four or five days in childcare, perhaps they’re seeing a lot more adults, and they don’t have a relationship with just one single educator, they might be experience more of the churn of the workforce.”
Minister for Early Childhood Education Jess Walsh said on top of expanded access to subsidies, there was a $1 billion Building Early Education Fund to build more quality not-for-profit centres as well as a pay boost for staff.
“Our 15 per cent pay rise for educators is stabilising this important workforce because we know that a quality workforce is the foundation of quality early learning,” she said.
Opposition childcare spokesman Matt O’Sullivan said the government research shows that long hours in care can affect children’s emotional development and learning.
“Yet policy continues to push a universal, centre-based model that narrows options and does not suit every child,” he said.
“More than half of children aged zero to five – 51.2 per cent – do not use formal childcare, highlighting the gap between policy and how families actually care for their children.”
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