Early childhood education & care - Giving families a voice
Recognising the need to understand and elevate the voice of children and families in discussions and decision making about Early Childhood Education and Care, The Front Project, an independent change catalyst, engaged Heartward Strategic to undertake primary research with parents of children aged 0–5 years who are not yet at school.
“We uncovered a nuanced understanding of those who use and those who don’t use early childhood education and care to enable their first-hand experience of the system’s benefits and challenges to be voiced.”
Heartward designed a robust research program to understand early childhood education and care needs, choices and experiences. This comprised a national survey of 1,695 parents, online forums and narrative interviews. A subsequent co-creation session focused on designing parents’ ideal early childhood education and care system. To further assist with system, service and communication design, Heartward synthesised the research findings into a series of empathy maps for the three core parent groups communicating their goals, motives, perceptions, influences and behaviours.
Our research showed that, while parents highly value early childhood education and care, and the benefits of engaging with the system accrue to the whole family (not just the child), many were experiencing issues with access and flexibility that left some needs unmet and potentially impacted workforce participation.
The Front Project has published our research findings, which have also been referred to in the media and parliament, ensuring the voice of families remains forefront in the national debate around changes to early childhood education and care.