Universal 15-hour Preschool: Implementation Review

The Office for Early Childhood Development (OECD) is working with the ECEC sector to deliver universal 15-hour Preschool for all children in South Australia – a key recommendation from the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care in South Australia. The reform aims to reduce the number of children starting school developmentally vulnerable by providing two years of high-quality, inclusive, play-based preschool.

The goal of this procurement process is to commission a review into how effectively and efficiently the 15-hour universal 3-year-old preschool elements are being implemented. These elements include Preschool Boost, Quality Initiatives, Local Teams Support, and the Mixed Market Model approach (referring to the invitation for both government and non-government ECEC centres to partner with the OECD to deliver universal 3-year-old preschool). The purpose of this early review is not to assess the impact of the 15-hour preschool program or the policy settings themselves. Rather, it will seek to understand how the universal preschool reform elements are being implemented and identify strengths and areas for improvements for future rollout efforts.

This review will run over the first year of implementation (with a possible 12-month extension) and will consider all sites in the rollout. Key deliverables include two interim reports (June 2026 and October 2026) and a Final Report (February 2027), as well as recommending a Monitoring Framework to support the OECD in tracking progress on an ongoing basis - delivered either through internal processes or with external assistance.