There has been a lot of debate about how good New Zealand's early childhood education is in these pages this week. That's a good thing. You are entitled to hear every side of the story when it comes to the care of your kids. But not everything that's been said is accurate. So if you're a parent who's been left wondering, here are the facts.
Quality early childhood education can make a real difference to your child's life. Research shows that kids who experience it do better at later learning and in life. New Zealand's early childhood education system is one of the best in the world. We consistently rank in the top three countries on teacher qualifications and the numbers of staff to children. We also rank near the top of the tables on funding.
Our system provides parents with good quality services, with good access to a range of different kinds of services, and affordability through the 20 hours early childhood education policy.
Not every service starts out perfect. As the Herald pointed out on Monday, we are working with 150 to improve how they help kids to learn, and how centres are managed. Kids are safe at these services, but we are working to improve the education they are getting. Most services are providing good-quality teaching and learning. In centres reviewed by the Education Review Office (ERO) since mid-2013, 88 per cent rated at the top rating or second top of quality measures.
If the health, safety and the care of kids is at risk in any way, we have the power to take action - and we do. In any one year, there is a small group, less than 1 per cent of all services, that we have serious concerns about. With those services, we increase the frequency of checks, or put them on a provisional or suspended licence. We can also cancel licences. Services have to display their licences, so parents can see if their child's service is on a provisional licence. All our concerns are noted on provisional licences.
