Preschool Reform Agreement funding
The Northern Territory Government is strengthening preschool programs to increase participation and better prepare children for their first year of full-time school, through the Australian Government's Preschool Reform Agreement (PRA) 2022-2025.
This is a national agreement that recognises the importance of early childhood education and care in providing lifelong benefits for our youngest learners.
The PRA has been extended until the end of 2027 to maintain reform momentum and Australian Government funding.
Key reforms
Key reforms under the PRA are:
- a ‘funding follows the child’ approach – funding is paid per child to services that provide a quality preschool program
- national enrolment and attendance measures – to help us understand and focus on how we can improve children’s participation
- the Preschool Outcomes Measure – a formative assessment tool for teachers and educators.
Preschool Outcomes Measure pilot
The Australian Government has developed the Preschool Outcomes Measure as a national formative assessment tool to support teachers and educators.
It's designed to help them understand a child’s learning and development against the national learning progressions.
The Preschool Outcomes Measure was trialled nationally between July and September 2025.
Education Ministers have agreed to a further trial of the tool, called the pilot. The pilot will take place in the second half of 2026 and 2027, before recommendations for future implementation will be presented.
Expressions of interest to participate in the pilot were open from 28 July to 13 August. Great interest was shown by NT services. Limited places are available and selected services will be notified shortly.
There will be opportunities for services who were not selected to participate in the pilot to contribute in other ways to the development of the assessment tool.
This page will be updated as the pilot progresses.
To learn more, go to the Australian Government's Department of Education website.
Contact
To learn more about preschool funding and the Preschool Outcomes Measure, email the Department of Education and Training at oec.eyss@education.nt.gov.au.