Overview

The NSW Government is launching the $3 million ECEC Research Program. It is an initiative under the Childcare and Economic Opportunity (CEO) Fund and will provide expert evidence-based insights to support government policy, objectives and outcomes for the sector.

A strong evidence base is essential to tackling the challenges facing the early learning sector in NSW. The program will fund both targeted research grants and a large-scale research project to deliver value for the sector in the short and long term.

Program objectives

The ECEC Research Program supports the CEO Fund Act’s principal objective to increase participation in the State’s workforce, particularly women, by making quality early learning more affordable and accessible. The ECEC Research Program meets this objective through the strong focus on achieving a deep understanding of the delivery of early learning and the criticality of a sustainable early learning workforce.

The ECEC Research Program also delivers on a NSW Government commitment to fund research into NSW early educational outcomes. This commitment includes gathering evidence on early childhood delivery models, ensuring NSW has a strong workforce pipeline to deliver early learning now and into the future to improve the availability and efficacy of early learning.

The Program seeks to achieve:

• Outputs - rigorous evidence on the early learning sector to support CEO Fund Board Strategic Investment Plan, priorities and programs.
• Short term outcomes - increased evidence base to support the early learning sector and the CEO Fund Board in increasing accessible, affordable, quality early learning.
• Medium term outcomes - improved decision-making to invest in evidence-based programs that are shown to be most effective in increasing accessible, affordable quality early learning; evidence-based resources for early learning professionals and providers to improve quality.
• Long term outcomes – effective and efficient government investment in early learning; increase in accessible, affordable, quality early learning in NSW; increase in early learning workforce attraction and retention in NSW; and increased workforce participation, especially for women in NSW.

Research focus

The program is focused on delivering lasting benefits for children, families and the early learning workforce – particularly in underserved and priority communities. There are six key focus areas for researchers:

• ECEC Quality: Better understandings around the factors enabling and constraining quality in early learning environments, pedagogy, professional practice and leadership.
• ECEC Workforce: Exploring innovations to attract, retain, and sustain a thriving early learning workforce, including professional learning and mentoring.
• Models of Provision: Examining effective delivery models across urban, rural, and remote NSW to design inclusive, accessible, and high-quality services.
• Aboriginal-led ECEC: Building on Aboriginal connections to Country, language, and culture to develop culturally responsive and sustainable early learning services.
• Inclusion: Supporting equitable, high-quality early learning for all children, with a focus on disability equity.
• Under-served Communities: Addressing barriers and increasing participation in communities and cohorts currently under-served by early learning services.

Of the $3 million, the government will award $1 million in grants to eligible researchers to investigate and report on the above priority areas. The government will award the remaining $2 million to fund the NSW ECEC Study (NEST), a large-scale study conducted by a consortium of leading NSW universities and researchers.

Academics and research consortia specialising in early learning are encouraged to learn more and apply through the program guidelines for the ECEC Strategic Research Fund and NEST.