Do You Live in a Desert or an Oasis?
Do you live in a desert or an oasis?
BY BONNIE LAXTON-BLINKHORN, KINDICARE
Recent moves by both the Australian, and state governments, to improve access to early education highlight the barriers many families face when it comes to securing a childcare spot, and now new evidence shows just how pervasive this problem actually is.
The Mitchell Institute examined a family’s ability to access CCS eligible long-day care centres in more than 50,000 neighbourhoods across the country to work out who is living in a desert and who is in an oasis.
According to the findings, around 9 million families (35 per cent of the population) live in what the Mitchell Institute has classified as a childcare desert.
A childcare desert is a populated area where there are more than three children per available childcare spot (or less than 0.333 places per child under four).
Where are the deserts?
While childcare deserts occur in every state and territory and in all our capital cities, the research shows that they are more likely to be in regional areas and may mean a total absence of services or a shortage.
Around 1.1 million Australians live in regional and remote areas where there is no childcare available at all.
Deserts happen in metropolitan areas as well, and the research shows that as many as 5.3 million Australians (29 per cent) who live in cities may be in a childcare desert.
For city-dwellers in childcare deserts this may mean a longer commute or more competition to secure a spot in a preferred service.
In these neighbourhoods, childcare deserts indicate relatively low levels of spatial accessibility to childcare, but, because or the greater number of providers more possibilities to access care than regional counterparts.
The implications of poor access to care
We know that high-quality early childhood education and care offers children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, a greater opportunity to succeed later in life and unfortunately, the research showed that children and families in lower socioeconomic areas have the least access to early learning and those in more advantaged areas have the best access.
Furthermore, access was greater in locations with higher fees. The Mitchell Institute suggests this could be because there are more financial incentives for operators to set up in areas where they can charge more.
Unsurprisingly, areas with lower access to childcare also have fewer numbers of women in the workforce and areas with a good supply of high-quality early education spots have higher numbers of women in paid employment.
As mentioned at the start of this article access to early education and care is increasingly in the policy limelight, at both the state and federal level, and the landscape is likely to be very different in coming years, we will keep the KindiCare up-to-date on these changes as they are rolled out.
In the meantime, visit KindiCare to find high quality care near you.
