Nearly half of ECE centres breaking ratiorule

“It’s like working in a baby farm or factory” is how an early childhood teacher has described their reality on the ground in the sector.

The comments come from a report by the Office of Early Childhood Education (OECE), which found nearly half of centres (46%) had breached requirements around teacher-to-child ratios, meaning at times they had been operating illegally.

By law, ECE centres are required to be staffed at ratios of one adult to five children for under 2-year-olds and 1:10 for 2-yearolds-plus. Best practice would be at least 1:3 for under-2s, 1:6 for 2-year-olds and 1:8 for 3 and older, according to the OECE.

Stuff has obtained an early copy of the report, due to be released today. It summarises some of the key results of the 2023 ECE Quality and Employment Survey of 3000 teaching staff at kindergartens and daycares across Aotearoa.

For Wellington teacher Emma*, who also read the findings, they showed “such lack of faith in the system”.

Although the conclusions don’t reflect her experience at the “amazing” centre where she works, Emma said they mirrored what she heard from colleagues in the wider industry, as well as what she’d witnessed at another centre where she’d taught previously, which left her so concerned she quit within two weeks and complained to the Ministry of Education.

To her, the most shocking statistic was that 30% of teachers said they didn’t have time to develop individual relationships with kids in their care: “I think that’s the basis of everything.”

An even higher proportion, 35%, had concerns for children’s learning.

While Emma’s two boys, aged 16 months and 3 years, attend the centre she works at, more than a quarter of teachers said they would not send their own child to their centre or one like it. In fact, multiple respondents told the OECE they wouldn’t enrol their child in any ECE service.

One teacher said: “Most parents that don’t work in ECE have no idea how bad things really are for their children in ECE”.

Dr Sarah Alexander, chief adviser to the OECE, said “quite simply ... none of this should be happening”.

“We’re talking about young children who rely on adults, who deserve and need to be cared for well, educated well, to be supported. And yet we are hearing from teachers that the quality of services are variable.”

The figures were similar to that of previous studies, indicating little progress had been made.

Alexander is advocating for authorities to conduct more spot checks of ratios and for changes to how ratios were calculated to avoid situations where teachers were left in charge of bigger groups of children because their colleagues were out of the room changing nappies or doing paperwork, as was commonly described.

Without such changes, the sector was at risk of reaching a “tipping point” where attending ECE was no longer a benefit for children but instead was a “risk factor”.

Because of the study’s embargo, the ministry and other sector organisations were not able to be contacted for comment.