A national report on how families experience early childhood education and care has found the current structure is not working, with parents believing the system isn’t working.

The independent from the Front Project is found that parents believe early childhood education is vital, but the system needs adjusting in terms of affordability, flexibility and quality.

CEO of the Front Project, Jane Hunt, believes parents value early childhood learning, but says there are barriers that are affecting parents.

“One of those barriers is cost,” she said. “Nearly 80 per cent of families are saying that the cost of early learning is a barrier for them returning to work, with 52 per cent of families saying it stops them working because it’s too expensive.”

“Some other strong feedback was on choice. Sometimes they’re not able to find the places that are close to them

Families are having to send their children to multiple different childcare centers.

“One in three families are having to do that juggle, which are a real barrier for the family,” Ms Hunt said.

Hear the full interview with Jane Hunt below.