Targeted ECE projects welcome but cuts cancel out benefits

Targeted ECE projects welcome but wholesale cuts cancel out benefits

The government continues to mask the effects of its cuts to early childhood education and mislead the public about how much it is investing,” says the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa.

It has announced plans to build eight new early childhood centres in parts of south and east Auckland to try and increase participation among Maori and Pasifika children and children from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

NZEI says targeted projects are welcome but the reality is that many existing services in these communities are struggling to stay open due to large government funding cuts.

Last year funding was cut to more than 2,000 services around the country, which had more than 80% of their staff fully qualified.

NZEI National Executive member Hayley Whitaker says many community-based services in south Auckland, including Pacific and Maori language nests have experienced huge income drops and have had to put fees up to parents who can least afford it.

“The sad irony of the government’s early childhood policy is that many children in low socio economic areas who are already benefitting from early childhood education are being taken out because their parents can no longer afford it,” she says.

Other services have had to lay off qualified teachers.

“It must be hard for these existing services to hear the government claim it is putting more money into early childhood when they are dealing with the sharp end of the government’s funding cuts,” Ms Whitaker says.

“The government cannot continue to trumpet targeted funding programmes in early childhood against a backdrop of wholesale funding cuts which are impacting on the vast majority of children and families.”

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