Andrew Scott
Andrew Scott is Emeritus Professor of Politics and Policy at Deakin University. For more than 20 years he has researched ideas for and approaches to the provision of high-quality early childhood education and care around the world. His focus is on how Australia can learn, adapt and apply relevant lessons to make things better for children in this nation.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8973-5676
Curing Australia’s Childcare Crisis »
Quality, universal early learning
Authored by: Andrew Scott
Publication date: 2026
Australian childcare is in crisis. Revelations in the last two years of the serious harm being done to many of Australia’s youngest citizens, in places meant for their education and care, have shocked the nation. Failings simmering for decades, because governments have again allowed childcare to become dominated by excessive profit seekers, are forcing a policy reckoning. In this book, Professor Andrew Scott outlines expert evidence and international experience to demonstrate how we can best make childcare safe and invest in children’s crucial first 5 years, when 90 per cent of their brain development takes place. Further, Scott demonstrates how the public outlay on policy measures needed will result in a substantial net financial gain for taxpayers. He outlines a future in which traditional Australian community involvement in early learning such as kindergartens, together with innovative new forms of provision, are mobilised to support parents, properly value the work of childcare professionals, boost women’s workforce participation and increase the role played by fathers in the lives of their children. Out of crisis, as Professor Scott powerfully shows, comes the opportunity for far-reaching, beneficial social change.
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