Excerpts from the media release:

Australia is at a crossroads when it comes to early childhood care and education services. In a new review of education released today by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) the provision of early childhood care and education services in this country is described as insufficient, fragmented, under funded and inconsistent.

There is no universal planned, systematic provision; rather, services have developed in an ad hoc way with a largely two-tiered but multi-dimensional system of 'care' and 'education' with blurring of boundaries in some areas. The result is a fragmented early childhood sector with a patchwork of services, little agreement on service types, functions or terminology and a 'mishmash' of funding and regulations.

Early Childhood Education: Pathways to quality and equity for all children by Dr Alison Elliott and published by ACER as Australian Education Review 50, calls for a coherent, long-term national action plan and timeline to develop and implement an integrated, well-funded, regulated and managed system of early childhood education and care with clear goals, priorities and outcomes.