Regulating for quality in Australian early childhood

This article addresses the highly complex early childhood education and care (ECEC) reform process in Australia from 2009 to the present day.First the Australian early childhood context as well as the Australian political environment are introduced, with particular focus on how they impact on the reform process. Second, the complex processes of quality regulation in Australian ECEC are described in a little detail. The reforms have progressed through the development of a national early childhood quality agenda to the development of a range of activities and outcomes necessary to bring various states and territories together in functioning partnerships.Curricula have been developed, along with a quality assessment process which resulted in services being rated based on the newly developed standards.Third, the impact of this massive political change on children’s outcomes is depicted and the evaluations undertaken to examine the effectiveness and impact of the process are identified. Ultimately, the recent changes in quality regulation in Australian early childhood are critically discussed.