Cliff Meyers

‘Invest early,’ says UNICEF adviser

By Kerri Carr

"Wake up -- invest early" is the message United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) East Asia and Pacific education regional adviser Cliff Meyers has for all governments.

His advice is similar to that of Professor Tony Vinson, whose Federation-commissioned The Education and Care of Our Young Children: Good Beginnings report was launched on Public Education Day.

"Vinson has it right," Mr Meyers said.

He said "political will and financial commitment" were the barriers to quality early childhood education.

"In Nepal, [kindergarten] repetition and dropout is really high and represents a waste of resources," Mr Meyers said.

"If there are quality resources, you would find reduced wastage.

"Governments would save money by investing in pre-schools. In other words, they cannot afford not to invest," Mr Meyers said.

"I would suggest that's something that Australia needs to consider also."

Mr Meyers spoke of the Perry-Highscope 20 year longitudinal study which compared children in a poor inner-city community who received childcare to those who did not.

The study looked at school readiness, commitment to school at age 14 (regular attendance), basic achievement at age 14, high school graduations, earnings and arrests.

"It showed a huge difference."

"When you look at the amount you have to invest later in life [cost of gaoling] compared to what you could have invested in those early years, it's like, 'wake up, invest early'!"

"I'm completely in the Vinson camp. So much resourcing needs to go into quality early childhood intervention," Mr Meyers said.

He said he would want Australian pre-schools to be using play as a learning tool, teaching socialisation.

"What you do not want to see is an over-emphasis on literary skills," he said.

"You don't want to see too strong an emphasis on competition and ranking.

"You don't want to see a stifling of a child's creativeness.

"You need an open curriculum that responds to the children's interests.

Mr Meyers praised Victoria's recent stance on pre-school teacher wages.

"For the past two years in Victoria, salaries for pre-school teachers has increased 20 per cent for each of the past two years, so that it's coming to parity with primary school salaries, which means they are treating pre-school teaching as a profession that is just as demanding as primary school teaching, and it is."

Mr Meyers frowned upon private pre-schools in Asia having entrance exams.

"People are cramming their kids so they can get them into the 'best' pre-schools," he said.

"It's so sad.

"They're doing rote memorisation, because their high school exams require that anyway. It totally stifles the imagination."

Mr Meyers defines quality early childhood standards to include enforced standards, trained and qualified caregivers and caregiver: child ratios of 1:3 for infants and 1:8 for 2-3 year olds.

"You want a creative learning environment there for the kids...you want good methods, using play."

Mr Meyers said quality early childhood education in the 3rd world does not necessarily require desks and chairs, but may be community based or home based.

He said investing in Australian-type pre-schools in the 3rd world would lead to disparities.

"In Manila, UNICEF is piloting in the slums, training community members to be childcare-givers in a community setting; enforcing standards."

He said in less developed countries the starting point was parenting education or parenting orientation to help parents know: how to best raise their kids, about nutrition, play and stimulation from the early ages, immunisation and home-based treatment of disease.

Mr Meyers said UNICEF would like to see greater equity and expanded access to quality early learning.

He said quality early childhood education levels the playing field between children.

"You don't see in the first day of kindergarten a huge gap between those who are ready [for school] and those who aren't, who can't respond well," he said.

Mr Meyers said the type of discourse you would find in a middle-class or upper-middle class family is similar to what you find in schools. In a poorer family, discourse is not similar to the school discourse.

"The more you can reduce the disparities in readiness, the better."

Mr Meyers noted hunger was also an issue for learning.

"A child who has not eaten well at home won't do well in school," he said.

"We can't assume that all children are eating on a level playing field of nutrition."

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