ABSTRACT
This chapter provides suggestions for what is needed as the next step in the progression of Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC). It proposes that an interdisciplinary approach is needed to provide a better foundation for early childhood. An interdisciplinary approach allows the different disciplines to work together, strengthening the overall impact and providing a shared approach to working with children and their families. The chapter provides considerations for the future for Australian ECEC. Research within the international context is also needed about interdisciplinary ways of working, especially longitudinal studies. Such research would allow for cross-fertilization of findings and ideas, leading to new understandings and practices within policy and practice. Communities that care and the Pathways to Prevention Program have provided some valuable lessons for the development and implementation of future developmental prevention initiatives. These two programs provide an example of how education, policy, health and developmental lifecourse perspectives can work together.
