Regional preschools promised relief in National Party pre-election pitch

Dozens of preschools across the Central West are unable to open every day due to staff shortages. Waitlists can stretch years and about 10 per cent of teachers are estimated leave the profession annually due to the taxing workload.

Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Sarah Mitchell said on Tuesday a spate of new polices will deliver "much better improvements" for staff, students, and parents over the next decade.

These include funding for universal pre-kindergarten state-wide, health and development checks for all children, and a range of financial incentives to retain existing teachers and encourage new ones to take up the profession.

It's about putting money in so that people know that there are great careers [in early education] with good opportunities," Minister Mitchell said.

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"You can live, work, and train in your own community and in the early childhood space literally shape the lives of the next generation, which I think could be if not the most rewarding job in the world, one of them."

Universal prekindergarten and health and development checks in the year before school are the ministry's two marquee policies, outlined in June of this year as part of the $15.9 billion 'Early Years Commitment.'

At the time, early education teachers on the frontline in Orange told the Central Western Daily the government had "monumentally missed the issues".

Orange Preschool director Sonya Murphy said more funding for parents won't help if suppliers don't have capacity to expand with demand, describing the situation as "almost [at] crisis point".

"The message is they're putting out more services ... but it's not looking at what they can do to support the industry to provide that," Ms Murphy said in June.

"We don't have the same type of services out here [in Orange], and we're trying our hardest but can't pull extra places out of our hat.

"People burn out really quickly ... saying 'this isn't the industry I thought it was going to be, I can't work here anymore'."

On Tuesday, Minister Mitchell said the government understood the complexity of the situation in regional centres, and was implementing policies to ensure the industry can cope with an influx of new students.

These include free teacher study places at TAFE, up to $5000 payments for eligible students, and the creation of support networks for staff looking to relocate to regional centres.

"Retention payments" are also being considered to encourage existing teachers to stay in the industry.

"If we get the early years right, we'll see much better improvements in terms of student outcomes - that's not just their education and their academic outcomes, but social, emotional, and wellbeing," Minister Mitchell said.

"We know those first 2000 days are so important so this really has the potential to really transform NSW and, for me particularly, that focus on regional communities is front and centre because that is where we can make the most impact and make the most positive difference for our communities.

"For us it's about making sure we deliver those good services, that we've got the staff that we need, and also that we listen to communities because what we might need to do in Orange in terms of providing support might be different to what they need in Gunnedah, where I live, (and) it'll be different again in Broken Hill."

The NSW state election is scheduled to take place on 25 March, 2023.

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