Investing in early childhood education
On Monday this week I joined about 30 Mums and their children at Levin Adventure Park to celebrate local playcentres.
Early childhood education (ECE) is crucial because we know that the first five years have a big impact on a child’s development.
This is why the government is spending a record $1.4 billion this year on ECE, and looking at ways of increasing access to those most in need.
Every child that attends an ECE centre in New Zealand is subsidised by an average of more than $7600 a year by taxpayers. This compares with about $5500 for every primary school student and $6700 for every secondary school student.
The average taxpayer-subsidised payment to ECE centres is almost $270,000, which is on top of what centres ask parents to pay.
We need to give flexibility and choice to local communities to make their own decisions. This is why 20 Hours of ECE has been expanded to include playcentres, kohango reo and 5-year-olds for the first time – something the Labour government refused to do.
But while funding has nearly tripled over the past five years, participation rates have increased by less than 1 per cent. Too many children are missing out. In some areas up to one in four children arrive at school without having attended ECE.
An independent taskforce has been considering how effective this spending is and how we can make improvements. Some of the ideas have included targeting spending at needy communities, and better monitoring of what outcomes we get for this major investment.
A report has been out for public consultation, which the government will carefully consider. You can read the full report at http://www.taskforce.ece.govt.nz/.
Despite some scaremongering, the Minister of Education Anne Tolley has made it clear there will not be any funding cuts to playcentres or parent-led ECE services.