Labor's policy of a five-day kindergarten week might look good on paper, but could fail in regional Tasmania.
That's the view of Teeny Brumby, who, as a parent of four children, led the charge against the Liberal government's policy to lower the school starting age for prep students a decade ago.
Labor leader Josh Willie recently announced that should the party win government at the next state election, kindergarten would be increased to five days a week in all public schools, and it would provide universal access to early learning for three-year-olds.
Ms Brumby said, who is also the Burnie City Council mayor, Labor's policy was an ideological solution that seemed to ignore child development.
"Children are not uniform in their readiness," she said.
"Some thrive in structured settings; others need gradual transition."
"The question is not whether kindergarten is valuable, it absolutely is.
"The question is whether uniformity serves all children equally well."
Ms Brumby said for many four-year-olds, learning happened best through play, unstructured exploration and relationship building.
"Quality is more important than quantity," she said.
"Extending hours without addressing workforce capacity, specialist support and infrastructure may not deliver the intended outcomes."
"If reforms are implemented, they must be properly resourced and regionally responsive - not city-designed solutions applied uniformly across the state."
Ms Brumby said if the goal was to improve educational outcomes for four-year-old children, there should be more investment in speech pathology and early intervention services, parent engagement programs to equip families to support learning at home, and more support for children with developmental delays.
Iris Duhn is a professor of early years education at the University of Tasmania, and leads its Early Years Research Lab.
She said extending hours without commensurate investment in skilled educators and learning environments risked diluting quality rather than amplifying it.
"Duration alone is not the active ingredient; what matters is quality," Professor Duhn said.
"The risk in any expansion is that quantity outpaces quality."
She said five days in a high-quality learning environment could make a positive difference to young children's social, emotional, physical sense of wellbeing.
"Tasmanian kindergartens operate as early childhood services under the Early Years Learning Framework, not as schools, and that distinction matters enormously," Professor Duhn said.
"They're not structured around formal learning sessions but around play, relationship, and child-led exploration."