Recommendations outlined in the Early Childhood Taskforce Report including placing greater value on excellence and accountability in early childhood education have been largely welcomed by providers in the education sector.
The taskforce, led by Dr Michael Mintrom, made 65 recommendations looking at diverse areas such as the value of supporting parents, professional development in the sector, more consultation with caregivers, supporting early childhood innovation schemes and providing value for both parents and society.
But, the recommended changes to the funding mechanism are causing considerable concern.
“The new funding proposal will provide much more targeted funding for certain groups ... for low income families, for Maori and Pasifika children or children with special needs ... but they-the Government-are not going to put more money in,” says Linda Mitchell, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, Waikato University.
Funding rate critical
She is “dismayed” that the present system could be replaced with a system that may disadvantage families and not benefit all children.
Middle and higher income families will miss out or will have to pay more fees, says Professor Mitchell, who supports the idea of universal funding.
Clare Wells, Chief Executive of New Zealand Kindergartens (NZK) says the funding rate, although not stated in the report, is “critical”.
“There is a potential for significant costs to be transferred to families,” she said in a press statement. “Parents and communities already meet around half the costs of ECE in fees and donations as well as through fund-raising, grants and in volunteer time. Further pressure on household budgets will inevitably mean some children will miss out.”
Professor Anne Smith, a member of the taskforce, agrees that affordability for middle income familes with 3 to 5 year olds could affect the rate of participation in early childhood education.
In a Position Paper, she cites a European Commission report that supports universal access to ECE, “rather than interventions targeted exclusively at vulnerable groups”.
Because of the difficulties involved in targeting groups accurately its beneficiaries may end up being “stigmatised”. It could also lead to segregation as they progress through the schooling system, says the report.
Professor Smith concluded that: “The proposed funding system may have advantages for the government and possibly for employers, but I do not see any evidence that it has of benefits for the majority of parents and children.”
Loss of pay paritys
Loss of pay parity could also occur under the proposals as the report recommends that kindergarten associations negotiate salaries directly with teachers.
The report believes that the government should not have a direct role in determining early childhood education teachers’ pay and conditions.
The Government has to-date provided funding for kindergarten teachers supporting the unified pay scale between kindergarten teachers and primary teachers.
Leaving pay and conditions to the market, as occurred in the 1990’s, would result in big differences between pay and work conditions, says Professor Mitchell.
“So you will have people competing for staff and you have quite a high turnover of teachers which is ultimately also not good for children because they need adults who are constant,” she says.
Well remunerated teachers are more likely to take part in professional development which has a “spin off” in terms of quality teaching, says Professor Mitchell.
Education Minister Anne Tolley, who established the taskforce in October last year, told Parliament that government spending on ECE has increased threefold in the last 10 years.
Staff salaries represent the single biggest cost, estimated to exceed $1bn for the 2010/11 period out of a total cost $1.4bn for early childhood services.
A high-quality early childhood education system that worked for all children and families was a priority, and proposals for significant changes to ECE would form part of the election campaign, she said.
The Government will now be working through the taskforce’s recommendations.
