House of horrors: What the ABC revealed about early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Australia now

The ABC’s Four Corners television episode ‘Betrayal of Trust: Australia’s Childcare Crisis’ into the worst excesses of the troubled early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector was gruesome viewing. This article discusses the central challenges the program revealed rather than the horrific stories of abuse, injury, and neglect. Such reports are likely to scare parents with over a million families and almost 1.4 million children using Government-subsidised services.

The ABC’s six-month investigation revealed what happens when the values and goals of education and care are misaligned with corporate agendas but are fuelled by Government policies and practices. While the program interviewed a service director within a service where the children had a chance to flourish, and the system worked well, these scenes were few and far between.