Indigenous Early Learning and Care

Abstract

Good quality Indigenous early learning and care can ameliorate the significant health, social, economic and political disadvantages experienced by Indigenous people in Australia. Acknowledgement of the importance of the early years by the Australian Government has produced strategies and programs based on early intervention and prevention. These include the Communities for Children initiative, the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy, and the National Agenda for Early Childhood. These initiatives are based upon the evidence from neuroscience of the impact of the child's environment on the developing brain and subsequent life chances.