the 10,000 hours project

The 10,000 hours project is an important new study that aims to understand what supports Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centres and staff need to achieve the best outcomes for children, families, and educators. The study is longitudinal - tracking participating children across their experiences in ECEC until they enter school.

This research is funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council.
"Professor Karen Thorpe is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Australian Laureate Fellowship (project number FL22010013) funded by the Australian Government."

About the study

The Research: ECEC programs support children’s life chances. Those who attend from the first year of life can spend up to 10,000 hours in an ECEC centre. These hours support children’s development. For this reason, we want to understand how to ensure families, educators and ECEC centres have the supports they need to give each child the best opportunity. By studying actvity in centres we can provide evidence to inform how to best invest in ECEC at governement and local level. The 10,000 hours project seeks to understand what barriers limit the delivery of learning opportunities and outcomes for children, families, and educators and what works best to support children to thrive.

Benefits of the study: Participation in this study, will contribute to understanding how we can get the best early learning experiences for Australian children. We seek the views of ECEC centre staff, children and families on how to best provide this for all children. Our research will be read by governments, who fund education, and your views will be seen and heard. Research results will be available via newsletters, emails and on our webpage.

Related research studies

Involvement in the study: PARENTS & CHILDREN

Parents/carers

Children

Complete a survey (Once a year)

Allow researchers to conduct observations at drop off and pick up times (During the researchers’ scheduled visit to the childcare centre)

$50 gift voucher (once a year) for each child participating in the study.

Complete play-based activities (at ages 3 years and over)

Daily activities and interactions observed (by researchers, under educator’s supervision)

The light, temperature, acoustics and air quality will be measured in the centre.

Please note: Some centres will have observations video and voice recorded. This will only occur with the consent of the centre director, educator, and parents of the children involved.

Involvement in the study: ECEC SERVICES

Centres will be asked to

Directors will be asked to

Educators will be asked to

Allow researchers to conduct observations of participating children and their educators’ daily activities and interactions

Allow researchers to monitor the centre environment through sensors that measure light, temperature, acoustics and air quality

Complete a survey (Once a year)

Provide copies of the centre’s current policies and procedures

Each centre will receive a $50 resource gift voucher

Complete a survey (Once a year)

Complete short reports for participating children (Educators will receive a $10 voucher for each completed report)

Allow researchers to complete play-based activities with participating children (aged 3 years +)

Please note: For centres that agree to participate in the audio and video recording component of the study, directors and educators will be asked to consent for researchers to record alongside observations. Children can only be recorded with prior consent from their parents/carers.

The Research Team

Chief Investigators

Professor Karen Thorpe

Assoc Professor Sally Staton

Professor Simon Smith

Project Team

Lucy Bryce	Olivia Bayliss	Nicole Lakeman	Nadine Lorimer
Candice Oakes	Ethan Pollock	Maria Borres	Ellen Sanderson

Researchers

Dr Sandy Houen	Dr Laetitia Coles	Dr Azhar Potia	Dr Peter Rankin
Dr Bonnie Searle	Dr Aisling Mulvihill	Emily Westwood	Anne Maree Taney
Samantha Bly	Charlotte Casey	George Normore