For all children, the earliest years are
critically important for their physical and
emotional health, for their social development
and cognitive skills, and even for their later
educational achievement and life
chances.
This has been known for
centuries. Five hundred years ago, the Dutch
humanist and theologian Erasmus said, "One
cannot emphasise too strongly the importance of
those first years for the course that a child
will follow throughout his entire
life".
In South Australia through our
Thinkers in Residence program (
www.thinkers.sa.gov.au),
we asked Canadian early childhood expert, the
late Dr Fraser Mustard, and more recently
Professor Carla Rinaldi from Reggio Emilia in
Italy, to advise us on how to improve early
childhood education. It's a policy area we take
very seriously. In South Australia every child
aged 4 is entitled to government funded
preschool education.
Fraser Mustard told
us that states and nations with early childhood
development programs beginning in the earliest
years of infancy (birth to age 2) secured the
highest scores in literacy and numeracy. These
findings are compatible with what we now know
about early brain development, language and
literacy.
In Reggio Emilia, a northern
Italian town with a worldwide reputation for
advanced thinking in early childhood education,
young children are viewed quite differently.
They are treated as citizens with rights. They
are not seen as just empty vessels to be filled
up with knowledge by enthusiastic teachers.
Instead there is a real emphasis on unlocking
and respecting a child's imagination which can
play a key role in problem solving and in a
child's search for knowledge and understanding.
A strong embrace of the visual arts encourages
children to express themselves creatively. In
doing so, it helps them develop their
theoretical and analytical skills.
Just
over a decade ago, Chicago Economist and Nobel
Laureate Jim Heckman said "We cannot afford to
postpone investing in children until they
become adults; nor can we wait until they reach
school age – a time when it may be too late to
intervene. Learning is a dynamic process and it
is most effective when it begins at a very
young age and continues throughout adulthood."
In 2006, a major work for the Brookings
Institution, outlined three important
principles to improve early childhood
development:
•
intervene early (at least at the time of
birth)
• intervene
often
• intervene
effectively.
But its not just about
better preschool education, as important as
that is.
For governments, it makes sense
to invest in these early years through better
targeted health services. Not doing so often
results in much bigger spending later in life
when problems are harder to fix. Studies around
the world show that a lack of investment in the
early years can lead to significant social and
mental health problems. The Rand Corporation
estimated that for every $1 invested in early
childhood and parent support programs, $7 could
be saved in later life; in health, and criminal
justice systems. Unfortunately, government
Treasury officials seldom think this
way.
The first few months of a baby's
life are both important, as well as joyous and
worrying, particularly for first time
parents.
In South Australia, the state
government in 2003 launched its ambitious
'Every Chance for Every Child' program. Funded
by the state, it involves home visits by
qualified paediatric nurses to virtually every
baby in South Australia within four weeks of
their birth. We call it a 'Universal Contact'
visit. This service has proved to be not only
popular but extraordinarily helpful for babies
and parents alike, particularly for young
mothers, single or otherwise, who often feel
isolated in their homes and finding it hard to
cope. Sometimes there are issues such as
post-natal depression to deal with.
The
first home visit under the 'Every Chance for
Every Child' program is comprehensive. It
includes conducting a child health check - a
full physical examination, responding to the
needs of parents and providing them with
information and advice on bonding, feeding and
settling their baby, and ensuring the best
possible environment for the infant, including
safe sleeping arrangements.
Last year
95% of South Australian parents with brand new
babies received visits under this program.
This first visit enables the early
identification of family and child development
issues leading to early intervention and
problem prevention. For many, the first visit
is enough, but there is much more help
available to assist families who need extra
support. This can involve a series of follow up
home visits or attendance at a Child and Family
Health Service Clinic. First time parents are
offered access to 'new parent' groups, a 6 week
program 'Getting to Know Your Baby' facilitated
by a Child and Family Health Service nurse.
An even more comprehensive family home
visiting program is available to provide
additional support for struggling families. Our
Family Home Visiting scheme is a two year,
nurse led preventative parenting program based
on building a partnership between the child and
specialist nurse, and the family, to provide a
supportive environment and the best possible
developmental start for children. The program
has a multidisciplinary approach and includes
Aboriginal cultural consultants to assist
Indigenous Australian families.
The
program focuses on the health and safety of
young children, child development,
relationships (especially between the child and
parent) and community connection – linking the
family into services in their local area. It's
not a 'one size fits all' approach but is
flexible, responsive and tailored to meet
different needs and circumstances. Ongoing
health checks, immunisations and hearing
screening, are part of the program.
I
would encourage policy makers to take a close
look at the Reggio approach to early childhood
education and the 'Every Chance for Every
Child' infant health program in South
Australia.
Getting the best start – at
the start – makes sense for children, families,
communities, states and nations.
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