South Canterbury educators backing Early Childhood funding campaign
The ratio of teachers to children at South Canterbury kindergartens appears to be in good shape, but funding remains a concern, educators say.
They have thrown their support behind the Every Child Is Worth It campaign, launched by the New Zealand Education Institute (NZEI) on Thursday.
The campaign aimed to increase funding to early childhood education (ECE), to ensure all ECE teachers were qualified, and to improve the ratio of teacher to children.
However, Minister for Education Hekia Parata said ECE funding had been increasing each year, as had the percentage of qualified teachers.
South Canterbury Free Kindergartens Association manager Dave Hawkey said he was "fully supportive" of the campaign.
Kindergartens in South Canterbury operated at ratios of about one adult to 10 children between the ages of three and five.
It also tried to achieve a one adult to four children ratio for children which were two years of age and under, Hawkey said.
Anyone who taught at a kindergarten in New Zealand needed to be qualified.
West End Kindergarten teacher Carol Hankin said most of the families on the roll had backed the campaign by signing postcards which would be sent to Parliament.
Hankin said staff were unable to buy resources, and had to apply for funding or grants to purchase furniture, toys, "you name it".
Garden Grove Montessori owner and operator Nadine Liken was not aware of the campaign, but said the largest investment ECE centres made was in the people who worked alongside the children.
"With the stagnant funding that has been in place, that definitely increases pressure."
NZEI executive member and Virginia Oakly said hundreds of ECE centres around New Zealand sent messages to Parliament asking the Government to improve funding for ECE, which she said had been frozen since 2010.
"We get about $500 per child per year less funding now than what we did six years ago."
The minimum adult to child ratio for children over the age of two was one adult to 10 children.
For children under the age of two, the ratio was one adult to five children, she said.
Ideally, the ratio for children over two would be one adult to eight children, while for children under two it would be one adult to three children, she said.
"If you’ve got five six-month-old babies, and one person to look after those five, it’s risky."
Parata said funding for ECE had more than doubled in the period since the 2007/2008 financial year to $1.8 billion in the 2016/17 financial year.
The number of services employing 80 per cent or more qualified teachers has increased – from 91 per cent in 2011 to 97 per cent in 2015, Parata said.
South Canterbury Playcentre Association president Elle Mitchell declined to comment.