Centres: ‘worst fears true’

Sarah Alexander said traditionally children would be with kids of different ages, have the same teachers right through, and feel like they were in a family grouping. However, the larger centres generally split age groups up and transition kids through up to five different rooms.

‘‘Our worst fears of the sector have come true when you see the division of children into groups by age. We’re creating a generation of assembly-line kids.’’

ChildForum, a national organisation promoting best practice early childhood education, advocates for greater regulation around centre and group sizes.

Alexander said research shows young children need consistent caregivers and social circles so they can learn about sharing, cooperating and family groupings.

This was not achieved in centres where children are in large groups or went through multiple transitions between rooms, she said.

‘‘The biggest concern is to do with attachment. If they’re not developing that attachment, that is going to lead to issues later, such as behavioural problems.’’

Children in larger groups display more aggression, have higher rates of sickness and end up being seen as just a number, she said.

Early childhood education has undergone big change in New Zealand over the past decade and while the number of licensed community-run childcare services has remained steady, the number of privately-run services has jumped 73 per cent in the past 10 years.

Evolve Education Group own home-based care Porse and 120 early childhood centres, including both small centres and some of the largest in the country.

Chief operating officer Fay Amaral said the rising cost of property development created an incentive to establish larger centres.

‘‘Some of those larger centres are becoming more viable than perhaps the smaller ones.’’

Evolve’s larger centres are split by age group and are often run like four little centres in one, she said.

This has learning advantages as teachers are able to focus on a specific age group’s development milestones, such as toilet training or school preparation.

‘‘Children don’t mind change and in fact they are more flexible than adults,’’ she said.

‘‘Criticism should be more levelled at how a transition is managed. If a child is simply whipped out of one room and stuck into another room that’s clearly not going to be a positive experience at all.’’

But manager of Devonport’s Small is Beautiful Val Morrison said services like hers – she has a maximum roll of 20 children – could no longer exist in 10 years. ‘‘Small centres are a dying breed, weighed down by bureaucratic demands.’’

Research pointed to smaller centres having better outcomes for children. For under-fives to thrive a maximum group should be set at 25, she said.

Ministry of Education spokeswoman Katrina Casey said New Zealand’s early childhood education’s licensing standards are among the highest in the world, she said.