ARC linkage grant LP140100897, Industry partner: Children’s Protection Society
The challenge
Children who experience significant adversity early in life are set on a trajectory of diminished wellbeing. Prolonged exposure to trauma and abuse causes major impairments to brain and physiological development which can lead to multiple negative consequences later in life. It has been estimated that in 2015–16 there were 52,300 pre-school children receiving child protection services (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2017) . The need of effective early childhood education and care (ECEC) program targeting this population cannot be over emphasised.
The research
The Early Years Education Program (EYEP) is a centre-based early years education and care program targeted at the needs of infants and young children exposed to significant family stress and social disadvantage, including being at heightened risk of, or having experienced abuse and neglect. Professor Jeff Borland and Dr Yi-Ping Tseng led a multidisciplinary team to analyse the impact of the program through a randomised controlled trial ─ the EYEP RCT.
The impact
The findings from EYEP RCT show that the program has potential to change the life trajectories of children experiencing significant adversity with very large program impacts found on children’s cognitive and social-emotional development.
This project makes a demonstrable contribution to public policy by proving that it is possible in Australia to design and implement an ECEC program to significantly improve the lives of children experiencing extreme adversity. The quality of evidence has also led to subsequent investment from governments and philanthropic organisations in our follow-up research on replicating the program, which will provide insights for scaling up the program in the future.
Chief Investigators
Professor Jeff Borland (Department of Economics) and Associate Professor Yi-Ping Tseng (Melbourne Institute), Faculty of Business and Economics at The University of Melbourne. The Chief Investigators acknowledge all contributors to the RCT. Please view reports for a full list.
Reports
- Tseng Y, Jordan B, Borland J, Clark M, Coombs N, Cotter K, Guillou M, Hill A, Kennedy A and Sheehan J, '36 months in the Early Years Education Program: Assessment of the impact on children and their primary caregivers', Changing the Trajectories of Australia's Most Vulnerable Children, Report No. 5 (October 2022).
- Tseng Y, Jordan B, Borland J, Clark M, Coombs N, Cotter K, Guillou M, Hill A, Kennedy A and Sheehan J, '36 months in the Early Years Education Program: Assessment of the impact on children and their primary caregivers', Changing the Trajectories of Australia's Most Vulnerable Children, Report No. 5 (October 2022).
- Tseng Y, Jordan B, Borland J, Coombs N, Cotter K, Guillou M, Hill A, Kennedy A and Sheehan J, ‘24 months in the Early Years Education Program: Assessment of the impact on children and their primary caregivers', Changing the Trajectories of Australia's Most Vulnerable Children, Report No. 4 (May 2019).
- Jordan B and Kennedy A, ‘The Early Years Education Program (EYEP) Model’ Changing the Trajectories of Australia's Most Vulnerable Children, Report No. 3 (May 2019).
- Tseng Y, Jordan B, Borland J, Coombs N, Cotter K, Hill A and Kennedy A, 'The first twelve months in the Early Years Education Program: An initial assessment of the impact on children and their primary caregivers', Changing the Trajectories of Australia's Most Vulnerable Children, Report No. 2 (March 2018).
- Tseng Y, Jordan B, Borland J, Clancy T, Coombs N, Cotter K, Hill A and Kennedy A, 'Participants in the Trial of the Early Years Education Program’, Changing the Trajectories of Australia’s Most Vulnerable Children, Report No. 1 (June 2017).
- Jordan B, Tseng Y, Coombs N, Kennedy A and Borland J, 'Improving lifetime trajectories for vulnerable young children and families living with significant stress and social disadvantage: the early years education program randomised controlled trial', BMC Public Health 2014, 14:965.