Young children's rights to provision, participation and protection: Challenges of applying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to Early Childhood Education and Care in Australia

Thirty years since the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), Australia continues to face the enduring challenges of according young children the rights to provision, participation and protection. Australia’s National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care (NQF) is driving a significant national agenda for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) as a context for the enactment of children’s rights. International and Australian considerations of children’s rights in ECEC forms a backcloth for the chapter’s examination of the NQF and discussion of key barriers and enablers of children’s rights in ECEC in Australia. The chapter calls for renewed commitment at the level of government, systems and local services to provide quality ECEC in ways that promote children’s human rights.