A call for high quality early childhood education in the early years of school in Western Australia

This paper has been written in response to the growing concerns from educators of children in the early years of school (kindergarten to year 2) and university teacher educators who are experiencing first-hand a rapid increase in the formalisation of the early years of schooling in many classrooms in Western Australia (The West Australian, 2013). Concerns for the general and long term health and wellbeing of young children have surfaced in the early childhood profession as we witness increased pressure placed on improving school achievement in national literacy and numeracy tests (King & Janson, 2009; Wescombe-Down, 2013).