Parenting expert Maggie Dent warns full-time kindy pledge is ‘stealing childhood’

Renowned parenting expert and author Maggie Dent has slammed moves to bring in full-time kindergarten for WA four-year-olds as another attempt at “stealing childhood”. Premier Roger Cook announced on Monday the Government would spend $33.8 million to trial full-time free kindy in 10 schools in 2027, if it is re-elected on March 8. The move, a national first, aims to end the juggle many parents face with a five-day kindy fortnight. Schools currently operate kindy three days one week, and two days the next. Early Childhood Education Minister Sabine Winton said she expected it could take a decade to roll out full-time kindy across the State. But Ms Dent warned that children sent to school full-time from a younger age were more likely to be subjected to the push down of a formal, academic curriculum, with less time for play. “We keep on stealing childhood of children in order to get them ready for school,” she said. “The first thing we did was steal the age of five.” Ms Dent said before pre-primary became full-time and compulsory, five-year-olds used to do a couple of half days, or two full days at school. “We automatically assume, the earlier we start, the smarter they get,” she said. “In actual fact, there is absolutely no evidence of that, and we’re now looking at teenagers with an epidemic of anxiety. We’ve got more children in our primary schools struggling with anxiety, and I’m going to say it’s because we keep on stealing childhood.” Even though many children attended child care full-time, she said that was structured for their needs, with nap times and outdoor play. “It’s a huge difference, because as soon as you attach them to a school, the push-down of the formalised curriculum comes in,” she said. Expecting children to attend kindy full-time in a school-based setting from the age of three and a half was a political decision, she said, that would be detrimental for most kids. “It’s about basically taking the wrong angle that says, ‘if we do this, we’ll save all your families a lot of money’, but they’re not factoring in the developmental issues they can be causing, which will actually possibly have even more economic issues later,” she said. “Experienced early childhood educators are pretty horrified, so I think we need to listen to the people who know best.” Mr Cook pitched the promise as a cost-of-living measure for young families. “Many of these parents, these working families, they have to pay for childcare for those extra days a week,” he said. “So this represents a saving of literally thousands of dollars a year for those families.” Full-time kindergarten attendance would be voluntary, Mr Cook said. WA Primary Principals Association president Niel Smith said school leaders were concerned the plan was focused more on cost-of-living issues than its educational benefits. “Any change to full-time kindergarten must be done with the intention to improve children’s long-term outcomes and not just to cater to working families and cost of living pressures,” he said. WA Council of State School Organisations president Pania Turner said giving parents a choice would be crucial to the program’s success. “Many parents currently juggle kindy days and daycare days to enable them to work and other parents feel strongly that their child is ready for a full-time program from kindy age,” she said. “For other parents, the option of part-time, flexible enrolment in kindergarten serves them and their child much better.” State School Teachers Union president Matt Jarman was keen to see more details of the proposal. “We would need to see the outcomes of the trial before forming a view on whether full time kindy is in the best interests of children,” he said. WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam said the plan lacked detail. “It doesn’t kick in until 2027, it’s unclear whether there will be Federal funding attached, and if this is rolling out to about 400 kindergartens, we’re looking at a cost to the State of over $1 billion,” Ms Mettam said.