The 10 year strategic plan for early childhood education, Ngā Huarahi Arataki-Pathways to the future, states “the government’s vision is for all New Zealand children to have the opportunity to participate in quality early childhood education, no matter their circumstances” (Ministry of Education, 2002, p. 1).
Given the recent reductions in government funding to early education services, I question the priorities of the current government and wonder whether it has lost direction and is now taking backward steps away from this vision. February 1st brought in the new funding rates implemented from the 2010 budget. These new rates have seen funding drop for two thirds of New Zealand’s early childhood services. The funding cuts have meant that those managing early childhood services have had to make some difficult decisions about how to manage shortfalls without compromising the quality of care and education offered to families (New Zealand Childcare Association [NZCA, 2011).
In a lot of cases, financial pressure has forced centres to raise their fees, increase group sizes and radically reduce spending on resources and professional development. [Stover, 2010; New Zealand Educational Institute [NZEI], 2010]. The reality is that these factors all impact on the provision of affordable, accessible and quality early childhood education for children and their families (Te One, 2010; NZEI, 2010).
A recent survey of 199 centres, conducted by NZ Childcare Association found that funding shortfalls have led to 75% of centres planning to increase fees, and subsequently over 1000 pre-school age children leaving e.c.e services. Participants in the survey predicted that more families will either reduce hours or not use e.c.e services at all (cited in Stover, 2010). The NZCA survey states that “services are looking at fee increases of between $10 and $50 per week”. For parents with children in full-time childcare this is a significant amount to come up with. According to NZEI (2010) the early childhood services in lower socio-economic areas are among the centres that are affected the most.
Therefore what are the implications for families who are already working hard to make ends meet, who do not have the income to manage these increases? It is likely that these parents will struggle to afford to keep their children in childcare and will either remove them altogether or move them to somewhere of lesser quality (Latham, November, 2010).
The early childhood curriculum is based on equitable opportunities for all and Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 17) states “early childhood education services are committed to ensuring that learning opportunities are not restricted by locality or economic constraints”. An article in The Press (Latham, November, 2010) highlights the fact that National campaigned with promises of early childhood education that valued families, higher standards in education and equal opportunity for all and states that the measures they have made so far seem to contradict this.
It seems to me that that current government legislation and policies do not match with the envisaged educational outcomes of the early childhood sector or National’s campaign promises. Furthermore, the right of our preschool children to equitable, accessible, quality early childhood education seems jeopardised and is becoming determined by what parents can afford to pay.
References
Latham, D. (2010, November 30). Priorities must be questioned. The Press.
Retrieved from Proquest database
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Matauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa/Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Ministry of Education. (2002). Strategic plan for early childhood education: Pathways to the future: Ngā Huarahi Arataki. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
New Zealand Childcare Association. (2010). Fees up, quality down according to new ECE survey. Retrieved April 17, 2011, from http://www.nzca.ac.nz
New Zealand Educational Institute. (2010). Key messages and facts. Retrieved
March 21, 2011, from http://www.nzei.org.nz
Stover, S. (2010). Managing the squeeze? Early Education, 48, 18-20.
Te One, S. (2010). New pathways to an uncertain future. Retrieved March, 20, 2011, from,http://www.acya.org.nz/site_resources/library/Documents/Reports_to_UN/CYA_2010/Early_Childhood_Education.pdf
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