“That ICPA Qld lobbies the Department of Education (DoE) and all relevant stakeholders to provide financial assistance to support rural and remote families whose children attend eKindy Playdays (face-to-face learning), recognising the unavoidable travel and accommodation costs associated with eKindy, as a barrier to equitable access to early childhood education.”
“Every child, regardless of location or life circumstance, deserves the best start in life. Access to a quality kindergarten program supports that start. It lays the foundation for every child in Queensland to thrive and achieve life-long success.” This is a statement on the Queensland government’s website; however, it is currently not true that every child has equitable access to kindergarten.
Kindergarten is available at no cost to families in Queensland except if you are a rural and remote family accessing eKindy. There are considerable travel and accommodation costs for families attending the E-Kindy face to face learning days (known as Play Days). The cost is variable but for an example consider a child who lives 400km from their nearest Distance Education base that attends the eKindy Play dates four times yearly and stays 3 nights in accommodation each time. Assuming accommodation is $200/night for a basic motel room, the cost of travel is the ATO rate of $0.85c/km and food costs to be $50/day additional to normal. In one year, this would be $2040 in travel, $2400 in accommodation and $600 for additional food costs, amounting to $5040.
We have multiple case studies available to provide further information regarding actual costs incurred by eKindy families.
Whilst eKindy is not compulsory the reasons for this are not related to the importance of the program. There is much evidence in literature that kindergarten plays a fundamental role in shaping a child’s educational trajectory and future wellbeing. Attending Playdays is a vital aspect of eKindy providing much needed social interaction for rural and remote children. Financial assistance towards the costs that families face in accessing Playdays would ensure that the cost of kindergarten does not become a barrier for rural and remote families seeking early childhood education for their children.
Case Study
We are a family of four based 4 hours from the nearest School of Distance Education, Charleville, where our eKindy play days are held four times a year. Each trip costs a lot, with 760km driving ($646 at the ATO rate of $0.85/km), 3 nights of accommodation ($390) and meals while travelling ($200 more than usual) amounting to over $1200.
In recent years, Brisbane CSDE eKindy play days have not all lined up with Charleville CSDE musters meaning other families in the district have sometimes had two trips per term - one for primary school aged children and one for Kindy. Often, this has actually meant that the Kindy children miss out as families prioritise the primary school trip. This year, I have a Year 1 child and an eKindy child and through significant work with the schools we were able to emphasise the importance of lining the play days up with school musters, however this has ongoing challenges with available facilities.
I have found no support for travel to play days and with the lack of localised pods, children are missing out on even the very minimal socialisation that exists in the eKindy program.
