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    South Australia's Preschool Infrastructure Strategy

    What we have heard so far

    To help develop this strategy, the OECD engaged intensively with key stakeholders in the sector. Our goal was to better understand how government can support the delivery of new and expanded early childhood services where they are needed so all children can access 2 years of preschool by 2032.

    There was a very strong response to our sector survey, with participation from 85% of invited long day care centres and non-government sessional preschools. This provided rich data about:

    • current 3-year-old places and service configurations
    • services’ capacity to offer more places for 3-year-olds
    • the barriers to infrastructure expansion experienced by different parts of the sector.

    To further understand what supports are needed and test key elements of this strategy, we held a series of consultation sessions and workshops.

    More than 170 people joined these discussions, including representatives from:

    • early childhood providers
    • peak bodies and unions
    • Aboriginal organisations
    • local councils
    • Regional Development Australia.

    Learnings from these sessions

    • There is strong support for 3-year-old preschool.
    • Across the state, local councils play different roles in early childhood, including delivery of services, as landlords or providing advocacy or planning support to local services, and now, some are considering expanding their roles.
    • Some regional communities have been working to establish early childhood services in their towns and are now considering how this work could intersect with the roll-out of 3-year-old preschool.
    • Many smaller providers have not undertaken any infrastructure works and would need support.

    Feedback relevant to specific actions is included throughout the strategy.

    three children playing with toys in a bucket of water

    Undertaking planning for an infrastructure project

    Once a provider is confident of the need for more capacity in their area and that a new or expanded service would be financially viable, they need to conduct detailed project planning. This would include:

    • community consultation
    • design
    • estimating costs
    • seeking development approvals.