Early Childhood Education: Reverse these cuts!

[We are very concerned on how this issue is impacting locally. If you have children or are working in this area of education and wish to share your thoughts, then please write in and let Ruth Dyson know.]

All political parties talk big about the importance of early childhood education (ECE), but actions speak louder than words.

Labour's policy for 20 Hours Free ECE was in line with the trend in OECD countries to provide at least two years free provision before children start school. Research shows that children who have experienced quality ECE perform far better in schooling on average than those who have not, with these differences carrying on into adulthood.

National promised parents it would not touch Labour's 20 hours free ECE. But after being elected it broke this promise and cut $480 million from the sector starting this month.

These are the first phase of cuts which will force up fees while reducing the number of qualified teaching staff at centres. The next cuts come in February.

National also promised to improve adult to child ratios, but there is already evidence that the opposite is happening as centres shed staff to cope with Government funding cuts.

The Minister is desperately trying to blame the ECE providers themselves for increasing fees, claiming that was not her intention and that centres are "choosing" to do so. But Treasury officials told the Minister that these cuts would increase the cost to families by $40-$80 a week, putting early childhood education out of reach for children from our poorest families.

The National Government's decision to increase GST to 15 percent, despite promising before the election that they would not do so, has also pushed fees up.

Given all these broken promises, it is unacceptable that the Minister continues to try and mislead parents by blaming centres for fee increases.

And now the Government is carrying out a "wide ranging review" of Labour's 20 Hours Free ECE funding – in other words another cost cutting exercise.

The Government says ECE costs too much and they haven't seen "value for money" from Labour's funding increases. This is utter rubbish.

For example, the Minister claims participation rates have not increased, yet her own Ministry says enrolments have increased 10% since Labour increased funding to the sector.

Labour dramatically increased funding so we could build more centres in areas of high demand and high need, reduce the cost barrier for families participating in ECE, and reflect the real cost of employing 100% qualified staff. This last point is particularly important.

Early childhood teachers are professionally trained to teach children during one of their most important developmental stages when their brains are literally being shaped. The responsibility is enormous. And yet this Government seems to see early childhood teachers as nothing more than glorified babysitters.

Why else would National say that from February next year centres will no longer be funded to have all of their staff properly trained and qualified? They say only 80% of teachers need any kind of qualification in early childhood teaching, the implicit suggestion being that someone with absolutely no qualification can do just as good a job in making up the other 20%.

Times are tough. But every Government has choices, and every Government must have the courage to stand by their decisions and defend them, not cower and try to pass the blame to others. This Government managed to find tens of billions of dollars for tax cuts for the wealthiest New Zealanders, subsidies for greenhouse gas polluters, private schools, and even $1.6billion for a "holiday highway" north of Auckland.

They could have taken a small part of that spending and continued to invest in early childhood education and the future of our children. They chose not to. It's that simple.

[Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14231352@N08/4030669076 .]