Educators call for change in early learning sector through new national campaign

A new national campaign led by early childhood educators has been launched. It calls for reforms to strengthen regulation, staffing, and public provision in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector.

The Children are not for profit campaign, supported by the Social Justice in Early Childhood Foundation, was launched on 8 April with more than 600 educators participating. It follows a mass meeting of over 2,000 educators in March, held in response to recent Four Corners reporting on concerns within the sector.

Campaign spokesperson and United Services Union (USU) member Evan Van Zijl said the growing influence of multinational and corporate providers risked shifting focus away from children’s needs.

“There should be no profit from abuse. When profit is prioritised over quality, children’s needs are at risk of being sidelined,” Van Zijl said.

“We need to end profiteering and expand the public provision of early education and care.”

The campaign has launched a parliamentary petition urging the New South Wales Government to:

• Increase funding for local government and other public early childhood providers
• Introduce rent controls on landlords of early learning centres
• Redirect funding into public education to support the training of early childhood educators
• Review and strengthen the sector regulator, ensuring leadership by professionals with direct ECEC experience.

Campaigners aim to gather 20,000 signatures within three months to trigger a parliamentary debate. Similar petitions are being planned in other states.

At the federal level, the campaign will seek commitments from parliamentary candidates ahead of the 3 May election. It will focus on ending subsidies to new private equity entrants, improving educator-to-child ratios, and strengthening national reporting and regulatory frameworks.

Van Zijl said that while sector improvements such as the one-to-four staffing ratio for the youngest children had been achieved, further reforms were needed.

“Stronger ratios need to be embedded so that centres can support every child and prevent children from falling through the cracks,” they said.

The parliamentary petition can be accessed here.