National Education Qualification for In-Home Educators

April 20 2011

PORSE, New Zealand’s largest provider of in-home childcare, said today it will campaign for a “fit for purpose” qualification for educators who provide in-home childcare.

PORSE Managing Director Jenny Yule said in-home is now the fastest growing sector in early childhood education and the industry has an obligation to recognise this with a professional qualification.

The Government must rethink its investment in early childhood education to provide under -fives and in particular infants and toddlers with childcare and education based on early brain development that will see under- threes being nurtured in smaller groups, she said.

“The early childcare advisory shelved a PORSE NZQA Diploma of In-Home Education application 10 years ago. Instead they chose in favour of a “one size fits all” teaching diploma that does not meet the industry needs of thousands of in-home educators, Ms Yule said.

“Our in-home educators are committed to learning and have a right to a qualification that recognises the valuable role in education and care they are achieving through working in partnerships with parents and families throughout the country,” Ms Yule said.

“A paradigm shift is happening with New Zealand as more parents are recognising the value in-home childcare. More parents are now choosing their own educator to provide their pre-school children with early learning and care in a home environment,” she said.

This move is backed by the latest Ministry of Education statistics which show the number of children in in-home childcare increased by 74 per cent since 2006.

“The ministry’s statistics back what we already know. More New Zealand parents are choosing in-home childcare and backing the importance of one-to-one secure attachment relationships in a child’s early brain development, Ms Yule said

A “fit for purpose” qualification for in-home childcare would greatly support the Children Commission’s recommendations for enhancing the levels of knowledge and skills for those who care for infants and toddlers, she said

“As a country we must not ignore the needs of infants and toddlers. By supporting the Government’s re-allocation of funds to 80% trained teachers, we could afford to bring back the traditional model of free kindergarten for three and four year olds and then develop a “fit for purpose” in-home qualification that would cater for infants and toddlers.”

“How we raise our children and establish secure attachment relationships in these early years has a direct bearing on crime, family violence and physical and mental health,” she said.

Ms Yule welcomed the opportunity to work with Government and the sector to rethink the investment in early childhood education for preschoolers and quality education and care for infants and toddlers as indicated by the Children’s Commissioner February 2011 report.

ENDS

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