Article
Assessing the effectiveness of Australian early childhood education and care experiences: study protocol.
BMC Public Health
(2016)
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
In Australia, 61.5Â % of children aged 3-4 attend Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) programs. Children's experiences within these programs vary widely and impact directly on educational wellbeing and social development. Research has shown that higher quality programs enhance children's learning and developmental outcomes, foster social participation and have long-lasting effects on their productivity as adults. Quality matters, yet we do not know what components of ECEC result in a quality program. Effective Early Educational Experiences (E4Kids) is a 5-year longitudinal study designed to identify and assess the impact of mainstream ECEC programs and program components on children's learning, development, social inclusion and well-being. E4Kids sets out to measure quality ECEC; identify components that add value and positively impact children's outcomes; evaluate the effects of child, family, community and environment characteristics on programs; and provide evidence on how best to invest in ECEC..
Keywords
- Children,
- Wellbeing,
- E4Kids,
- Early education,
- Early childhood,
- Families,
- Home learning,
- Program effectiveness,
- Quality programs,
- Socio economic status
Publication Date
April 21, 2016
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-2985-1
Citation Information
"Assessing the effectiveness of Australian early childhood education and care experiences: study protocol." BMC Public Health (2016) ISSN: 1471-2458 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ray_adams/51/
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