RESEARCH|Education
CARE: COMMUNITYALLIANCE FORREGIONALEDUCATION -EARLY CHILDHOODCARE: COMMUNITY ALLIANCE FORREGIONAL EDUCATION -EARLY CHILDHOOD
If it takes a village to raise a child what does an Early Childhood Centre look like in the 21st century?
Insight
Early childhood education does more than prepare young minds for school - it anchors regional prosperity, supports parental workforce participation and fosters community resilience. Yet many Australian towns struggle to deliver inclusive, affordable and high-quality care. Educator shortages, rising operational costs and fragmented support services leave families without options and children without the developmental foundations promised by national frameworks.
In 2023 NBRS completed CARE, a place-based research study incubated through the Envision program. The work pairs educational design expertise with local knowledge from a Victorian shire experiencing rapid demographic change and limited childcare availability. CARE interrogates the question: If it truly takes a village to raise a child, what should that village look like in the twenty-first century?
Key take-aways
From standalone centre to an alliance
Rather than every centre trying to offer everything, CARE links a network of centres to the city's existing infrastructure. Four hubs each have a focus: education, arts and culture, allied health, and parkland. Families can book a place where they need to be that day. Satellite centres and a mobile service take educators to outlying towns, where travel to a city centre isn't practical.
Valuing the people who do the work
The success of early learning reforms depends on having enough qualified educators, yet low pay, poor conditions and low professional status are driving them out. CARE answers with an Education Innovation Hub beside a university campus, offering practical placements, mentoring and further study, and with a staff hub in every centre that gives educators space to rest, study and grow.
Secure, and still part of the community
Child safety usually means a closed building. CARE uses public, privileged and private zones to let a secure centre share a plaza, function room, courtyard and café-style lounge with the wider community.
AT A GLANCE
11 of 73 Shepparton neighbourhoods are childcare deserts, and none are oases
35% of Australians lived in a childcare desert in 2022
DOWNLOAD THE FULL PAPER
The full paper covers the research on childcare access and the early childhood workforce, interviews with sector leaders, the CARE alliance model for Shepparton, and design principles and sketches for a community-connected centre.
