CoLab Early Years Initiative

As we all know, we only get one start in life. Like the Minderoo Foundation, our partners in CoLab, we are determined to ensure that every start is a strong one for children across Australia.

To achieve this, parents need to be able to get the support they need, in an accessible location, delivered by a known and trusted person. Ideally this would all be available within pram pushing distance of their house, for example at their local primary school.

However, every Western Australian community is different and there is no one-size-fits-all approach.

The Kids and the Minderoo Foundation, working together as CoLab, are partnering with the Western Australian Government on an unprecedented 10-year project which will try new approaches at a community level to see what differences they can make to children’s learning and development.

The Early Years Initiative will be rolled out in four communities and reach thousands of children. It will bring researchers, families, community leaders, government, business and philanthropic organisations together to redesign services and build community capacity to improve the learning and development of children from birth to four years.

CoLab Co-Director of Policy Mr David Ansell said the Early Years Initiative would try, test and deliver evidence-informed community-led approaches to child development in four communities across metropolitan, regional and remote Western Australia.

Communities would be supported to develop and implement plans with a singular target – to maximise the developmental status of children before they enter school (measured by the Australian Early Development Census, or AEDC).

“Despite having a singular target, the Early Years Initiative has many goals,” Mr Ansell said.

“We want to better understand how we can improve outcomes for young children and their families and how this can be effectively applied in different communities.

“Meanwhile, communities want more say in how services are delivered. Governments need to know what works, for whom, and in what circumstances – rather than just providing new and different services.

Philanthropists are determined to have greater impact. They all agree that to achieve their separate but related goals collaboration is essential,” said Mr Ansell.

How will it work?

Four communities (one each from very remote, remote, rural and urban settings) will be invited to participate.

Communities will be supported by government and researchers to assess the needs of all children and families and develop their own 10- year evidence-informed community plans. The WA Government has committed to re-design services to align with the plan, and researchers will work with communities both in developing the plan and providing a rapid assessment of new programs and initiatives. The whole Initiative will be supported by a board with representatives from the State Government, Minderoo Foundation and The Kids.

Why do it?

This Initiative is needed for a number of reasons. Most importantly, despite significant investment in the early years, the developmental gap between children living in high and low socioeconomic areas has widened since 2009.

In Australia, one in every five children is considered developmentally vulnerable. These are children whose health, social competence or language skills are at a level that makes them less likely to join their peers ‘school ready’.

Secondly, researchers have tended to focus on the environmental conditions children need for optimal development (attachment, cognitive stimulation); and not on how to create these environments for every child.

Thirdly, perhaps the most ambitious of all goals, the evidence shows a strong connection between the income of families and child development status. Importantly, research has shown that population-level outcome change for vulnerable children will not result from the implementation of a single program, but rather from a portfolio of services and community programs tailored to suit the needs of communities.

What does this mean for research?

The Initiative will test and provide innovative ways to get research into the hands of those who need it most – policymakers, practitioners and parents – in real time.

Researchers will need to work in different ways, providing rapid assessment of what appears to work with which groups; to help adapt what doesn’t work; and then translate and communicate these findings to external stakeholders. This process will be developed to build stronger bonds with policymakers.

Will it achieve its bold goals?

Only time will tell, but this Australia-first project is off to a good start. Research, philanthropy, and Government have been able to work together to produce a coherent integrated plan within six months, using what evidence shows are the key ingredients for success.

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 What's next

CoLab will:

• Work with Early Years Initiative partners to invite four communities to take part in the Initiative. What we learn from the Initiative will be shared and used to improve early childhood practices across the State.
• Bring together the major voices in early childhood development in Australia, to collectively develop a ‘core story’ to enhance the public understanding and confidence to act to support young children and their families – especially those experiencing adversity. An ongoing public awareness campaign will be delivered in 2018 and 2019.
• Develop a ground-breaking app to provide parents and caregivers with tailored brain-building information and skills building.
• Launch the pilot Child Development Atlas, the first resource of its kind in Australia to bring together and map in one place a range of data sources that are specifically focused on children’s development. The atlas will provide easy access to comprehensive information on the development and wellbeing of children and young people in each Western Australian community.
• Continue working with leading national and international economists to develop a systematic Cochrane-type Review that will encompass multi-sectoral evidence to support investment in the early years, and develop a measure that will combine cross-sector approaches to assess return on investment in the early years.