Children who do not attend preschool are more likely to start school developmentally behind their peers, according to a large study from Curtin University that analyzed 123,256 Western Australian children using data from the Australian Early Development Census collected between 2009 and 2021. Attending preschool — known locally as kindergarten or “kindy,” the year before compulsory pre-primary school — was linked to better outcomes across every developmental area the researchers measured, along with a substantially lower risk of starting school developmentally vulnerable.

The study’s authors describe the findings as some of the strongest population-level evidence yet for preschool’s role in building school-readiness skills, published in JAMA Network Open. “The message is simple: preschool matters,” said lead author Kendalem Atalell, a Curtin PhD candidate.

Senior author Associate Professor Gizachew Tessema, of Curtin’s School of Population Health and the enAble Institute, noted that more than one in five Australian children already start school developmentally vulnerable, and that children from disadvantaged communities attend early childhood programs less often even though they often stand to benefit the most. “No child should begin school already at a disadvantage,” he said. Co-author Professor Gavin Pereira added that “school readiness is about much more than knowing letters and numbers,” emphasizing the social, emotional, and communication skills preschool helps build.

Daycare’s effects, by contrast, were mixed: it was linked to lower developmental vulnerability in language, cognitive, and communication skills, but higher vulnerability in social competence and emotional maturity, a pattern the researchers attribute to factors such as the age children start care, how long and intensively they attend, and family circumstances, and say deserves further study. The team argues that expanding access to high-quality preschool, particularly in disadvantaged and remote communities, could help more Western Australian children arrive at school ready to learn, a point echoed by WA Primary Principals’ Association President Niel Smith, who noted that quality kindergarten balances play-based learning with early literacy and numeracy while helping educators spot children who may need extra support early on.

Endnotes

1. Kendalem Atalell, Gizachew Tessema, Gavin Pereira, et al., “Early Childhood Education and Care and Developmental Vulnerability at School Entry,” JAMA Network Open, July 28, 2026.
2. Curtin University, “Children who miss preschool more likely to start school behind, major Curtin study finds,” news release via EurekAlert!, July 28, 2026.