Drugs blight on early learning of children

A preschooler who pulled a synthetic cannabis bag out of her lunch box is among a rising number of children affected by drug use at home, according to a new government report.

Early childcare services expressed concerns to the Ministry of Education about growing drug use within their communities, and said overcrowded homes were a ‘‘relatively new phenomenon’’ impacting the education of New Zealand’s most vulnerable.

Poor hygiene – dirty nappies, unwashed clothes, and head lice – and chronic health issues were the most common challenges reported by about 22 of the 25 centres and organisations interviewed.

Twenty said children from disadvantaged backgrounds ‘‘lacked self control and resiliency’’, and about 17 reported increased drug and alcohol abuse, particularly the rise of methamphetamine, as a concern, the report noted.

The report looked at how services spent equity funding, a version of the school decile funding system used in early childhood education, to decide the most effective way to implement a new, $35.5 million funding stream called Targeted Funding for Disadvantage.

Educators approached by The Press suggested nobody was complaining about extra funding but some questioned the value of having two very similar funding mechanisms for addressing disadvantage.

‘‘I can’t see it’s anything more than tinkering around the edges,’’ kindergarten head teacher Virginia Oakly said. ‘‘It’s really challenging because you are going into areas that aren’t early childhood core business. This is a much bigger thing that’s not going to be addressed by giving centres more money.’’

Ministry deputy secretary Dr Andrea Scho¨llmann agreed: ‘‘Drug use and housing problems are a wider societal problem that require a comprehensive, ongoing and coordinated approach from a range of agencies.’’

The preschools, daycares and kindergartens interviewed were equally split between Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Wellington, and Canterbury, and all were the equivalent of decile 4 or lower. The report, published last week, was produced in September and October.

Among the stories they relayed were instances of trying to drop children at home, where they found their parents drunk, and a child traumatised after his mother was arrested in a drug raid.

One service said the increased use of methamphetamine in its area had drawn some parents into addiction and gang activity.

Another service noted children exposed to domestic violence or excessive drinking ‘‘often looked to teachers to be the stable adults in their lives’’.

‘‘It’s lunchtime, she opens her lunch box and she’s having a look around and then she pulls out a deal bag for synthetic cannabis and gave it to me,’’ a staff member at that service said.

Oakly, who is also the early childhood education representative for the New Zealand Educational Institute, said the equity funding model was flawed because it was tied to the ‘‘erratic’’ attendance of often transient families. ‘‘I can’t see how it [targeted funding] is going to be any different.’’