Early childhood sector’s mixed views of action plan
The Government’s Early Childhood Action Plan 2019-2029 revealed last week has been welcomed by South Canterbury Kindergartens, but not totally embraced by the Early Childhood Council.
The main points in the plan are to improve adult-child ratios; move towards a fully qualified teacher workforce, through incentives and regulation; improve the consistency and levels of teacher salaries and conditions; and the development of a network management function for the Government to assess what services were needed and prevent oversupply.
South Canterbury Kindergartens general manager Dave Hawkey said kindergartens were involved in setting the priorities which were to eventually get 100 per cent funding for qualified teachers.
He said teaching standards had not dropped despite a funding shortfall.
‘‘We cannot keep absorbing
salary costs.’’
Hawkey did not want to comment on adult-child ratios.
Ninety-four per cent of kindergarten teaching staff are qualified, of other licensed services 63.1 per cent of education and care services teaching staff were qualified, and 81.5 per cent at other service types. All home based co-ordinators were qualified, according to 2019 Ministry of Education figures.
The Early Childhood Council (ECC) represents the interests of independently owned early childhood centres. ECC chief executive Peter Reynolds said there were pros and cons to the action plan. Having 100 per cent qualified staff was turning ECE centres into kindergartens and not all parents wanted that as it reduced their choices. He thought 80 per cent was more reasonable.
He said having a kauma¯ tua or nurse working alongside qualified teachers was valuable and such options diminished with insistence of early education qualifications.
An increase in teacher ratio numbers meant ECE centres had to employ more teachers or remain with existing staff numbers and reduce the number of children attending to meet the requirements of a higher funding band.
‘‘We’re not convinced the push for a 100 per cent qualified teacher target will improve children’s education.’’
Reynolds said the increased monitoring requirements laid out in the plan could mean teachers spent more time ‘‘ticking boxes than teaching children’’, increasing labour costs, and pressure to recruit when there was a teacher shortage.
‘‘We need less monitoring, not more, so centres can focus on children, not red tape. We’re not convinced the increased compliance being forced on our members leads to any meaningful improvement in the quality of early childhood education.’’
He thought the network management function was a positive move as the sector had been calling for a more active role from the Ministry of Education when it came to allocation of early childhood education service licences.
‘‘One of the adverse effects of the laid-back approach that has been highlighted the last decade or so, combined with the funding cuts endured by services, has been increased competition,’’ Reynolds said.
‘‘While some level of competition is healthy, the allocation of new licenses in some areas made little sense where there were existing services offering good quality service experiences and struggling to survive.’’
His concern was that the ministry may exert a ‘‘market control’’ approach which could create an unsustainable environment. He would prefer a balance between free market approach and market control.
He said the council would seek more clarity and detail on the plan and continue to push for a review of the ECE funding system.
Members of the South Canterbury Early Childhood Centres Leaders Association did not respond to requests for comment.
‘‘We need less monitoring, not more, so centres can can focus on children, not red tape. Peter Reynolds
Early Childhood Council