The effectiveness of mobile preschool (Northern Territory) in improving school readiness for very remote indigenous children

Abstract

This study provided the first systematic data regarding efficacy of preschool programs for very remote Northern Territory Indigenous children including baselines for socio-demographic and health characteristics. The study quantified the effects of program availability, attendance and preschool program quality on follow-up measures of development and school readiness using the Australian Early Development Index. When controlling for mothers smoking during pregnancy, children attending more than 80 days of mobile preschool were 4.9 times more likely to not be developmentally vulnerable than children attending less than 80 days, (95% CI: 1.72 - 13.95). The results inform future improvements in children’s developmental outcomes by improving children’s attendance and professional learning for preschools educators to achieve high quality curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices matched to the needs of children and families in disadvantaged and complex learning environments.

Date of Award	May 2013
Original language	English
Supervisor	Jonathan Carapetis (Supervisor), Alison Elliott (Supervisor) & Sven Silburn (Supervisor)