Victoria is the first state or territory in Australia to introduce 30 hours of Pre-Prep for children across the state.
There are strong reasons to expect that increased hours of quality early childhood education in the year before starting school are beneficial, particularly for children who need extra support. International studies have shown that high-quality 30-hour learning programs can lead to improved learning and social outcomes.
About the Pre-Prep Longitudinal Study
The Pre-Prep Longitudinal Study will look at how Pre-Prep impacts Victorian children’s learning and development. The study will also find out more about how Pre-Prep influences families’ participation in study or work.
The University of Melbourne, in partnership with The Front Project and the Victorian Department of Education, will lead the project. The study will run from 2025 to 2028 and will be funded by the Victorian Department of Education.
What participation involves
Participating teachers and service directors will be asked to complete a survey. Parents and carers who choose to participate will also have a survey to complete.
There will also be some face-to-face data collection with some children in Four-Year-Old Kindergarten/Pre-Prep programs. The activities are fun and include things like looking at letters, numbers, simple maths and memory games.
Who can participate
About 300 services from across the state have been carefully selected to participate in this important research, to ensure a broad range of cohorts, geographies and experiences are represented.
All services offering Pre-Prep in 2025 (and their teachers) will be invited to take part. The study has also identified long day care and sessional kindergarten services across Victoria that are likely to offer Pre-Prep places to priority group children in 2026.
All parents and carers of children in these rooms will be offered the opportunity to sign up to participate.
How to get involved
The University of Melbourne research team has started to invite selected services to take part in the study. Services who sign up will then be able to invite teachers and families to participate.
You may have heard from the research team already. We encourage you to check whether your service has been invited to take part.
Previous research has shown that enthusiastic teachers and educators are the most important factor in getting families to sign up. If your service is participating, please encourage your families to get involved.
Please also share this article with your networks and help us spread the word about this important research.
How else to provide feedback on Pre-Prep
If your service is not taking part in the Pre-Prep longitudinal study, you can still provide us with feedback on Pre-Prep by emailing ECE.Engagement@education.vic.gov.au
You may also like to reach out to your local Early Childhood Improvement Branch.
Find out more
To learn more about the Pre-Prep Longitudinal Study, visit the study website: Pre-Prep Longitudinal Study.
For further information, contact the research team by email: preprep-study@unimelb.edu.au
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