Hundreds of ECE complaints made
Children abused, teacher was drunk among complaints
Cases of rough handling, inadequate supervision and children going unfed have surfaced in a horrific catalogue of complaints against early childhood education services.
The Ministry of Education released a report yesterday featuring all the complaints about early childhood education (ECE) received in 2017.
They received 339 complaints about early learning services and investigated 297 of them — the further 42 did not require an investigation. Of those investigated, 166 were upheld, which means that standards were either not met or the investigation found there were areas which needed improvement. Here are some of the cases:
Service informed the Ministry after a teacher roughly handled a child, resulting in a dislocated shoulder.
NZ Police notified Ministry of an infant who was shaken while at service. Educator was charged and sentenced.
Children were force-fed and concerns about the teaching practice by the head teacher were raised. Two staff members suspended and subsequently resigned.
A staff member was stood down after arriving at the service under the influence of alcohol.
A teacher was dismissed after pulling the chair out from under a child.
The Ministry suspended the licences of six services, cancelled nine services and changed 31 services’ licences to provisional after a number of complaints.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry said it would not be releasing the names of the centres. Eight more complaints were received last year than in 2016, but the number of upheld complaints remained largely the same, the Ministry said. “Every complaint we receive is treated seriously,” deputy secretary sector enablement and support Katrina Casey said.
Complaints stemmed from children suffering broken bones, service work conditions, how they are managed by staff, and the use of inappropriate language. Other cases featured a service temporarily being placed on a provisional licence after a child died shortly after being picked up from care.
Another service’s licence was cancelled after a complaint alleged a staff member hurt a child through rough handling. The same complaint alleged that children had left the premises unattended, children went unfed and there was inadequate supervision.
Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand praised the Ministry for listing and taking every complaint seriously. “It goes without saying that any practice having a negative impact on tamariki is totally unacceptable,” Kathy Wolfe, the chief executive of the early childhood lobby group and teacher training provider, said. However, she said the report also showed parents can have confidence the majority of Kiwi youngsters were in good hands, given 97 per cent of licensed ECE services meet or exceed Ministry of Education standards.
NZ Educational Institute Te Riu Roa president Lynda Stuart welcomed the report, saying any case of substandard care of children was distressing.
Every complaint we receive is treated seriously. Katrina Casey, deputy secretary sector enablement and support