Concerns as 250 childcare centres given red flags
"We don't know what other ones have problems . . . often the Ministry of Education will not know a provider has major issues until there is a complaint, or a case of child harm." Childforum chief executive Sarah Alexander
Fifty-four early childhood education centres are being closely watched by the Ministry of Education for failing to meet regulations – and experts say many others could be flying under the radar.
At the same time, Education Review Office figures show 202 centres have been red-flagged as ‘‘requiring further development’’ and 18 ‘‘not well placed’’, adding to fears that hundreds of children may not be getting good-quality early childhood education.
According to ministry figures, 31 home-based and 23 centre-based providers were on provisional licences as at August 2016, for not meeting standards, including hygiene, safety checking, curriculum, and first aid.
Many had breached a number of regulations, also including child-to-teacher ratios, and maximum child numbers.
The ministry said the number of centres on provisional licences at any given time was small, at less than 1 per cent.
Altogether they had licences to cater for more than 3000 children.
However, Childforum chief executive Sarah Alexander said those centres were merely the ones that had been spotted.
‘‘We don’t know what other ones have problems . . . often the Ministry of Education will not know a provider has major issues until there is a complaint, or a case of child harm.’’
Children at centres that had provisional licences were the ‘‘lucky children’’, as the ministry would be putting money and resources into bringing those centres up to standard, Alexander said.
There was widespread concern in the sector that there was not good monitoring, or quality assurance, taking place, she said.
New Zealand Educational Institute early childhood education representative Virginia Oakly said it was ‘‘horrific’’ to think some ECE services were not providing a safe hygienic environment, or breaching teacher-to-child ratios,
The data showed there were hundreds, if not thousands, of children not getting a quality education.
Centres needed to have fully qualified teachers who had the knowledge of the different stages of child development, who knew how to teach the curriculum and how to do assessment and planning, she said.
Ministry head of sector enablement and support Katrina Casey said a provisional licence status was not indicative of potential harm to children, or a threat to their health and wellbeing.
‘‘We let services know what they need to do to address our concerns, and set dates for this to be done by.
‘‘We closely monitor their compliance with these conditions,’’ Casey said.
Centres identified as requiring further development would be visited by ERO again within two years, to ensure they were promoting positive learning for children, and those considered not wellplaced would receive support.
Education Minister Hekia Parata said New Zealand had a well-regulated, well-run early childhood sector.
The Government spent $9 million a year on the Strengthening Early Learning Opportunities (SELO) professional development programme for ECE providers.
Services that had an ERO evaluation of ‘‘not well placed’’ or ‘‘requires further development’’ could access the programme.
‘‘The pursuit of quality is an ongoing issue for us . . . we know parents can be confident their children are being well looked after and well supported across the system as we know specifically which [providers] have a problem, and have a system to make sure they’re taking the action required of them,’’ Parata said.
Any complaint was dealt with quickly by the ministry, she said. NZ Ping pong is being served up as the newest way to bring different communities together in Christchurch.
Gap Filler, as part of its new ‘‘Diverscity’’ community showcase project, have installed three concrete table tennis tables in collaboration with the Chinese Cultural Association of Christchurch.
The aim is to give migrant communities greater visibility in the city, as well as bringing those from different backgrounds together.
‘‘This project is very meaningful to the multicultural community, especially during the earthquake rebuild period of Christchurch,’’ association president Robbin Wang said.
‘‘[It] makes the most popular sport in China publicly accessible,’’ he said.
‘‘We hope it will lead to friendly exchanges and interactions between local residents and the Chinese community.’’
At the opening, Simon Fenwick battled New Zealand table tennis representative Ethan Lin, as well as high winds.
‘‘It is a growing sport in New Zealand, a lot of retired and elderly people are getting into table tennis,’’ said Lin.
‘‘It’s actually a sport that any age can play . . . it’s a sport that’s low impact, you know you’re not going to get injured playing it.’’
The initiative, installed at the Bridge of Remembrance, is the latest in a range of community-led projects by Gap Filler with a similar purpose.
Korean, Fijian-indian, Chinese and Nigerian communities will all be involved this summer in projects sharing aspects of their culture with the wider public.
Gap Filler project developer Sally Airey said that as well as visibility for migrant communities, the hope was the tables would connect a range of people and support the area’s ongoing recovery.
A common theme had also been encouraging members of cultural communities to participate in something that took them beyond their usual social setting.
‘‘This project has been an education for us,’’ Airey said.
‘‘We’ve learned more about the cultural communities we have in Christchurch as well as learned about the ways in which we communicate and relate to each other,’’ she said.
- Fairfax NZ