A Good Childhood explores how policy, institutions and communities can create the conditions for every child to thrive. By connecting research, lived experience and public policy, the program is helping reimagine how Australia supports children and families to flourish.
Australia has made significant investments in supporting children and families, yet many of the systems shaping childhood were designed for a different era.
School hours no longer align with modern patterns of work and care. Early childhood education remains unevenly accessible. Children with additional needs often face fragmented support. Opportunities continue to be shaped by postcode, family income and circumstance.
At the same time, children are growing up in a rapidly changing world shaped by technological disruption, social change, economic uncertainty and new pressures on family life.
To meet these challenges, Australia needs to think differently about childhood — not simply as a stage of preparation for adulthood, but as a valuable and important part of life in its own right.
Universal early care & primary prevention: Establishing a child-focused early development ecosystem that addresses structural disadvantage before it takes hold.
Civic voice and participation: Supporting children and young people to contribute to the decisions that affect their lives and communities.
Family and community wellbeing: Contributing to the design of general and targeted supports for children with developmental delay and/or autism.
Educational and social renewal: Reimagining the school environment and community spaces to match contemporary developmental and social needs, particularly through a focus on what happens after the end of the formal school day in after-school care.
Associate Professor Luara Ferracioli
Associate Professor Luara Ferracioli is a leading scholar in political philosophy whose work focuses on childhood, families and social justice, with a particular interest in how policy can create the conditions for children to thrive.
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