Walk into a childcare centre today and then try to picture what one looked like in 1995. The physical gap alone is significant: you’ll find purpose-built environments, natural materials, and outdoor spaces designed with intent rather than afterthought. The paperwork has changed. The qualifications have changed. The language has changed. There are apps now. There are ratings. There are waiting lists that stretch 18 months before a baby is even born.
A lot has changed. Whether all of it needed to is a more interesting question.
Then vs now: what's changed in childcare?
- Children are spending more time in early learning than ever before, and expectations have grown with it
- Facilities have transformed. Purpose-built environments are now the norm, not the exception
- The workforce has professionalised significantly; the "just babysitters" era is over
- Compliance demands have increased, putting pressure on service leaders to find efficiencies
- Technology has found a genuine foothold in areas like early intervention, documentation, and remote access
- Parent expectations have risen. Families want more quality, more communication, more accountability
- COVID reshaped how families use care, with flexibility now a baseline expectation rather than a bonus
How childcare standards in Australia have shifted over 20 years
Brent Stokes has spent over two decades in early childhood education and care, becoming an Approved Provider in 2006 and working across the sector at almost every level since. He's also spent years supporting Queensland services through the rollout of Free Kindy in long day care settings.
His answer to the question of what has changed cuts straight to it. "The time children spend in regulated early learning has increased over time, and so have expectations," he says. “But you are right: children haven't changed. What hasn't changed — in my opinion — are the fundamentals. We promote kindness because that flows through to inclusion, manners, care, and meaningful early learning through play and intentional practice.”
One of the most significant changes in the sector over the past two decades isn't visible in the building. It's in the people.
"Twenty years ago, there was a misconception that we were 'just' babysitters," Brent says.
That framing is something a lot of early childhood educators remember bitterly, and rightly so. The skill required to work well with young children, to understand development, manage a room, notice what a child isn't saying, and build the kind of trust that makes a 3-year-old walk through a door without looking back: none of that is simple, and none of it is minding.
The professional reckoning happened gradually. The National Quality Framework formalised higher qualification requirements. Services were rated and made publicly accountable. The role of the early childhood teacher was recognised as distinct and specialised. "Educators and service leaders, including myself as an approved provider, have lifted professional standards, capability, and expectations," Brent says. "The profession today reflects that growth."
For families choosing a service, this matters more than most of the other changes. A well-qualified, well-supported educator who genuinely loves the work is still the most important variable in the room.
Technology in early learning: when does it actually benefit children?
The technology conversation in early learning tends to get polarised fast. Screens bad, nature good. Or: digital literacy is essential, get used to it. Both positions are too simple.
Brent's approach is more useful. "The first and most important question when implementing anything new, including technology, is: how does this benefit children?" That benefit might be direct, such as learning experiences, early intervention tools, support for children in regional and remote communities, language and cultural inclusion. Or it might be indirect, by making the administrative load on educators lighter so they can spend more time where it actually counts.
His concern isn't technology itself. It's the tendency to implement without asking the question. "The most important consideration remains balance, particularly around time and meaningful use." Brent says.
A documentation app that frees up an educator to sit with a child rather than fill in a paper form is doing something worthwhile. A tablet handed to a child to keep them occupied while staff catch up on compliance is a different calculation entirely.
How COVID changed childcare in Australia
The pandemic tested the sector in ways that nothing before it had. Services stayed open for essential workers while managing genuine uncertainty about risk. Educators showed up. Families disappeared and came back changed, many of them having recalibrated how they thought about work, time and what they were optimising for.
Some of those shifts have stuck. More families working from home has changed the way care is used: there’s more flexibility sought, and different patterns of attendance. Educators are also thinking differently about their own working lives.
Brent doesn't dismiss any of this. What he does take from the COVID period as genuinely useful is something less obvious. "One key takeaway for me has been the value of frank and fearless conversations. While tough conversations are not always easy, they create real opportunities for improvement and meaningful change." It's a less glamorous lesson than most post-COVID retrospectives offer, but it's probably the more durable one.
What good early childhood education still looks like
Ask Brent what he'd wind back — what the sector has quietly moved away from that once made it better — and the answer is not a policy or a practice. It's a pace.
"We all need to slow down, take time, and focus on what truly matters: little people."
Twenty years in, that's still the answer. The buildings are better. The qualifications are higher and the sector is right to be proud of that. But the child at the sandpit, working out how to share a bucket with someone they met an hour ago, hasn't changed. The quality of attention that child gets in that moment is still what everything else is meant to serve.
How to find the right fit for your family
If you're researching early learning options, Care for Kids lets you search, compare and connect with childcare services in your area, including long day care centres offering approved kindy programs. Enter your suburb or postcode at careforkids.com.au. to see what's available near you.
