In the final part of a week-long series on the early childhood sector, Education Minister Anne Tolley answers questions about the way we are providing for our young children.
Are you happy that the main outcome of 20 hours free has been a big increase in all-day care of 3- and 4-year-olds and a reduction in part-day "sessional" care, mainly in playcentres and kindergartens? Is this achieving the educational and child development goals of early childhood education [ECE]? If not, how do you think this imbalance could be redressed?
Do you agree with Barnardos that the 20 hours free policy has failed to make ECE more accessible to low-income families where the takeup of ECE has been lowest? Do you have any plans to make ECE more accessible to low-income families?
The Government made a manifesto commitment to extend 20 hours ECE to reach more children. From July 1, 2010 all kohanga reo and playcentres will be eligible to offer 20 hours ECE, and all 5-year-olds in ECE will also be eligible.
The trend for increasing provision of all-day ECE began before the introduction of 20 hours. Evidence I've seen suggests that at least 20 hours of ECE per week from the age of 3 provides the best support for future educational achievement [see Outcomes of Early Childhood Education: Literature Review (2008) on http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz].
Government funding currently gives parents choice in ECE, encouraging the ECE sector to be more responsive to parents' preferences, such as language, culture and hours of ECE provision.
This Government has a priority to increase participation in ECE and is committed to working more closely with communities, local organisations and businesses to tailor solutions that better fit communities' ECE needs.
Your 2008 election policy promised to "work across the education, health, housing and social welfare sectors to find new solutions to encourage parents who are reluctant to enrol their children in ECE and care services". What progress are you making on this goal? What kinds of "new solutions" may be possible?
I have directed the Ministry of Education to work more closely with central and local government agencies, focusing on new ideas and more targeted and flexible ECE, that meets the needs of communities.
For example, we are leading the Counties Manukau ECE Implementation Group, including Te Puni Kokiri, Manukau City Council and the Ministry of Social Development, with Health and Housing representation, to explore opportunities and develop appropriate responses.
The Counties Manukau ECE Implementation Group is working to make the processes to establish new ECE services faster and easier to manage, and identify opportunities. We're also piloting a new initiative, Supported Playgroups, in addition to educational play days and street-side playgroups to encourage families to use ECE.
When you took office you halted a Labour Government initiative to build ECE centres at nine schools in Manukau because you said it was based on an unrealistic expectation of "build something and they will come". What are you doing instead to raise ECE participation in Manukau?
After discussions with all the schools and communities involved we are progressing with building three new ECE services on school sites at Homai Primary, Weymouth Intermediate and Mansell Senior schools. It is clear that building ECE services alone is not enough. As part of wider work to increase participation in ECE in Counties Manukau we have begun work to support families to use the new ECE services.
For some years there has been a policy to include provision for an ECE centre at all new schools, but at new schools such as Mission Heights in Manukau no ECE centre has actually been provided for many years afterwards because of lack of funding and/or trained staff. What are you doing to make sure ECE is actually provided in line with need in areas of new housing development?
Mission Heights received $1,365,000 funding from the Ministry of Education in 2009/10 to build a new ECE service. The Government also supports teacher supply through significant funding and scholarships directed to areas of high need.
We are planning ECE provision in consultation with councils in some areas where participation rates are low or there are real shortages of services. For example, in Counties Manukau, we are planning a joint initiative with Manukau City Council to provide ECE services on council-owned land, and as part of the Transforming Tamaki Project we are looking at existing ECE provision and developing a comprehensive plan to support future ECE.
Do you have any plans to promote new playgroups in areas of ECE shortage, perhaps led by state-funded educators?
Yes, based on successful work in Counties Manukau, we are piloting 25 playgroups this year to introduce families to ECE and support parents to learn with their children. These playgroups will receive extra funding for a skilled person to provide parents/whanau with regular support.
Much of the criticism of the 20 hours free policy has been based on the fact that the subsidy rates are below actual costs, particularly for home-based care and in high-cost areas such as Auckland. Are you reviewing the subsidy rates? Do you plan to increase the home-based care rate? Do you plan to introduce regional variations to allow for regional variations in costs?
Twenty hours ECE covers 100 per cent of the average cost of providing ECE. This means that some ECE providers will receive funding which is less than their cost and some will receive more than 100 per cent of their costs. Our evidence suggests the majority of providers of 20 hours ECE have their costs met by Government funding.
You have changed the name of the policy from "20 hours free" to "20 hours ECE". Does this mean you accept that the Government will never pay the full costs of 20 hours ECE and parents will always have to pay extra fees?
We changed this name because it was clear it wasn't "free" with many centres asking for donations or optional charges. Parents are not obliged to pay these as services cannot charge compulsory fees for hours of 20 hours ECE.
Will you continue to increase the 20 hours ECE subsidy rates in line with inflation as you did in 2009?
Any decisions on changes to rates will be taken as part of Budget 2010.
When do you plan to implement your election promise to raise the required teacher-child ratio for under-2 from 1:5 to 1:4?
A decision, taking teacher supply into account, has yet to be reached on the best time to implement changes to the teacher-child ratio for under-2.
Are you concerned that 25 per cent of infants under 2 are now in non-family care? Do you believe non-family care is good for infants in this age group?
The Government believes parents are able to make good decisions for their own families. Evidence shows that regular high-quality ECE can support future educational achievement [see Outcomes of Early Childhood Education: Literature Review (2008) on http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz].
Are you happy with the quality of non-family care for infants? In particular, are you reviewing the current minimum legal space in ECE centres of 2.5sq m per child?
Government regulates the quality of ECE so that children can benefit from learning opportunities in safe environments. The 2.5sq m per child relates to free indoor space (with an additional 5sq m of outdoor space). These are exceeded in many centres. The Government has promised to reduce bureaucracy, and I have no plans to impose further, burdensome regulations.
