The Bryan Foundation partners with Evidence for Learning to support better learning in early childhood

Evidence for Learning (E4L), is expanding its work into early childhood education thanks to a partnership with The Bryan Foundation.

Evidence for Learning, a not-for-profit backed by Social Ventures Australia (SVA), has received $1 million in cornerstone funding from The Bryan Foundation to deliver an Early Childhood Education initiative focused on the learning lives of children before they start school. This will help ensure funding is invested in approaches that work best for Australian kids.

Evidence has shown that investment in early childhood education provides a strong return. Estimates place this ratio as 2-4 dollars for every dollar invested in universal preschool with economic returns likely to be higher for disadvantaged children.

The new partnership will be national but with a specific focus on Queensland and includes:

• Building evidence with new research on promising programs and practices in the early years and transition to primary school.
• Sharing evidence with a free, open access, web-based Early Childhood Education Toolkit summarising the global research on 12 topics relevant to early childhood education, planned for release in July 2019.
• Encouraging the use of evidence with free, accessible resources to work with early childhood educators to put the evidence to work.

Since its founding in 2016, Evidence for Learning has become a trusted and practical voice on education research for busy school practitioners.

Evidence for Learning Director Matthew Deeble says ‘A rich learning environment in the early years sets kids up for success in school and later life. High-quality early learning has a significant positive effect on a child’s readiness for school, and it has the greatest benefit for kids from families experiencing disadvantage.

‘That’s why we’re dedicated to greater evidence directed towards helping early childhood educators.

‘As we do with our work in schools, we will consult widely and closely involve early childhood research and practice experts as we combine the global knowledge with Australian experience to present clear and useful learning to busy early childhood educators.’

The Bryan Foundation Executive Chair, Jill Simes says the new partnership with Evidence for Learning is a significant and ambitious project for the Foundation.

‘The Evidence for Learning early childhood education initiative has the potential to deliver national positive impacts but also has special features to generate high value for early learning throughout Queensland,’ Simes says.

‘The program will generate evidence to ensure early childhood expenditure is directed towards programs that actually work.

‘The Foundation is extremely proud to partner with SVA, whose vision is to reduce the impact of social disadvantage on student achievement by making more evidence available and utilised.’