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ECE Taskforce Report: Tensions and contradictions
The ECE Taskforce Report ‘An Agenda for Amazing Children’ is out for consultation until 8 August. The Minister of Education wants to know what people think of the report and its 65 recommendations.
The report advocates the benefits of investing in high quality ECE. It talks about supporting families to participate and improving quality, about greater innovation and increased accountability.
However, underpinning the report are tensions and contradictions that are both confusing and concerning.
It calls for increased efforts by services to engage and involve parents while proposing funding incentives for services that will support parents into full time employment.
It calls for high quality, increased professionalism, educational leadership and better identification of and support for children with special education needs at the same time as setting an 80% benchmark for qualified teachers.
It stresses the need for collaboration while promoting competition and market forces determining whether services succeed or not.
It talks about better targeted use of government funding to support learning outcomes ignoring the significant portion of tax payer’s money being realised as profit by business in the ECE sector.
And underneath all this is a sense that the Taskforce views ECE primarily to support parents into full time employment rather than a valued sector providing significant benefits for children and families in its own right.
The report has the potential to shift thinking about access to ECE as a right for all children, to be driven by market demands. Is that the future we want to see for ECE? What do you think?
Funding cuts
Taking issue with the PM's assertion about the impact of ECE funding
Author: Clare Wells
Category: Funding cuts
Created: 02:35 PM, Wednesday 23 February, 2011
Comments: 0
1 February marked the Early Childhood Education (ECE) funding cuts coming into effect – around $400 million cut from the sector.
Hitting the streets in opposition to ECE cuts
Over the past few months, thousands of people have hit the streets around New Zealand in opposition to the cuts to ECE funding that come into effect from February next year. Peaceful protest marches have been held in Napier, Tauranga, Nelson and Dunedin –
Reality of less funding hits home
The reality of less funding to early childhood education services has hit home with the first decrease in funding coming through this week. Services receive funding from the Government four months in advance so the payment on Monday included the reduced f
Treasury's advice to government on early childhood education
Treasury's advice to the government as it prepared its 2010 budget was that the government needs to shift the balance "between public and private funding to better reflect public and private benefits", which Treasury points out "involves shifting costs fr
Cuts hit early childhood education hard
The government currently funds services at different rates according to how many qualified teachers are employed. That will stop in February 2011 when the two highest rates are cut altogether. ECE services will receive funding for 80% qualified staff. If