Playcentres in peril and Govt not listening

and although our members work incredibly hard to tick every box the Government asks of us, it’s never enough.

The tagline for Playcentre is Welcome to our Village; when you walk through that gate our village becomes yours. You become part of our wha¯ nau, a treasured part of a community of adults and children working, learning and playing alongside each other.

We offer programmes that provide support to parents in the first year of their baby’s life and empower parents from day one that they are the first and best educators of their children. We provide free adult education, opportunities for personal and professional growth and a wealth of support for families.

The strategies I learnt in Playcentre for guiding children’s behaviour not only continue to help me with my teenagers, but also come in handy in the workplace. I’ve talked to many parents who have made the decision to leave Playcentre, and while occasionally it is for financial or personal reasons, all too often it is because it becomes too hard to keep going. These are people who love Playcentre and want to be involved in their children’s education, but the administration and box-ticking to meet Ministry of Education requirements becomes too much.

The ministry has always struggled to understand Playcentre – we don’t fit nicely into one of its little boxes.

Its officials want us to jump through all the same hoops as teacher-led services, but be funded at a fraction of the rate.

The ministry talks about the benefits of wha¯ nau-based approaches in terms of outcomes for children and pushes other services to engage parents in their children’s education, but continually erodes that in its interactions with Playcentre.

Our issues are not entirely based on societal changes, and the ministry is not blameless in how we got to where we are. Our model empowers parents as the first and best teachers of children, and also empowers parents to be able to make informed choices for their children’s education.

Minister Hipkins claims the Government wants Playcentre to survive and thrive. But its preferential treatment of teacher-led services suggests otherwise and ultimately will result in centres closing and families being left wanting.