A parliamentary whistle-blower from Australia will headline a summit on early childhood education (ECE) tomorrow, delivering a warning about the risks to children and staff of a market-driven approach to ECE.
Early childhood educators, academics and parents attending the one-day summit will also discuss the risks of the Coalition Government’s moves to deregulate the sector and together develop a collective mandate for change.
Abigail Boyd, a Green MP and member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, instigated a Parliamentary Inquiry into ECE following her work with an ABC Four Corners documentary team that uncovered explosive examples of risks to children from an increasingly profit-driven ECE system in New South Wales.
“What we have seen in Australia is, when you pursue a market-driven approach to early childhood education you set off a race to the bottom on quality and safety. The corporatised sector cuts staffing and experience in pursuit of profits, which creates the conditions for abuse, neglect and assault, failing children, staff and families," she says.
ECE centre manager and NZEI Te Riu Roa member leader Jess Duff says there are parallels between the ECE crisis in Australia and what’s happening in the sector here in Aotearoa.
“It’s fair to say that many early childhood education kaiako in Aotearoa work in centres that are staffed at minimum teacher-to-child ratios, which creates huge stress and pressure on teachers. It makes it challenging to provide quality learning for the children. With the already comparatively low pay for early childhood educators and recent government cuts to pay parity rates, it’s not hard to see why we have a teacher shortage.
“We know what we need to create high-quality learning environments – and a lot of that comes down to better working conditions for teachers, valuing our qualifications, and making sure our tamariki – not profit – are at the heart of everything we do.”
This week (20 April), the Government’s revised ECE Licensing Criteria come into effect – considered by many kaiako and whānau to have been a mechanism to prioritise minimum standards over quality.
It comes on the heels of removal of the requirement for ECE employers to recognise previous experience and qualifications for relieving, beginning, and new ECE teachers under the pay parity scheme – which is a pathway for early childhood teachers to receive parity with teachers working in primary and secondary schooling.
Massey University’s Professor Emeritus Paul Spoonley, also a speaker at the summit, points to the significant demographic changes that are currently occurring in New Zealand, and the need for high-quality early childhood education as the basis for ensuring that young New Zealanders are prepared for these – and other – changes.
“Research repeatedly shows that the quality of a child’s early childhood education will stay with them for the rest of their schooling and potentially for the rest of their lives, especially as it takes place during the crucial first 1000 days of children’s brain development. Funding for quality, low-cost or free early education, where all the teachers are fully qualified, makes a huge difference in preventing social problems in the long run and creating a thriving, healthy society.”
In Aotearoa, a recent ERO review found that almost 50% of early childhood centres are not meeting the agency’s quality threshold, and the NZEI Te Riu Roa annual Kōriporipo Early Childhood Education Workforce Survey documents the recurring issues many kaiako face on the job, such poor ratios of teachers to children, workplace stress, health and safety concerns, low-quality education, and difficulties accessing learning support for tamariki in need.
The Whakamana i te Ao Mokopuna | Progress in Early Childhood Education summit is on Tuesday 21 April in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, hosted by Kindergartens Aotearoa and NZEI Te Riu Roa. Members and conference speakers are available for interview.
Abigail Boyd also speaks at a public event at 5.45pm the same day.