Survey hints ECE ‘quality going down’

The quality of preschool education is going downhill, according to an early childhood education (ECE) state of the sector survey released yesterday.

The survey found most ECE workers had little confidence in the Government to improve the quality of education and deliver on key promises such as pay parity.

The survey, run by the Office of Early Childhood Education (OECE), asked 1000 preschool workers whether the sector was improving.

More than 60% of survey respondents said they felt education quality became worse over the past five years and a further 23% said they had seen no improvement.

The main issues raised were a decrease in the quality of teaching staff, a lack of low teacher-child ratio, and a tendency for centres to see children as ‘‘dollar signs’’.

Overall, 63% of survey respondents said they believed the government was taking ECE in the wrong direction. Only 4% felt preschool education was going to improve.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins has hinted there is ‘‘more to come’’ for ECE in this year’s Budget.